\ 


X 


THE 


WAR  AND  ITS  HEROES. 


ILLUSTRATED. 


RICHMOND: 
AYRES     Sc     "WADE 
1864. 


Entered  according  to  the  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  18G4,  by 

AYRES    &    WADE, 

Jn  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  Confederate  States  for  the  Eastern 
District  of  Virginia. 


PREFACE 


The  Publishers,  with  much  diffidence,  present  to  the  public  the  first  volume 
of  "  The  War  and  its  Heroes."  They  would  not,  however,  appear  to  mag- 
nify the  imperfections  of  the  work  by  begging  the  indulgence  of  its  readers. 
The  circumstances  under  which  it  is  issued  at  this  time  are  patent  to  all  who 
have  lived  in  our  midst  through  even  the  last  six  months  of  the  great  struggle 
of  which  it  is  in  part  commemorative.  That  the  work  is  incomplete  is  a  fact 
which  requires  no  apology,  the  struggle  itself  being  incomplete.  That  it  docs 
not  appear  in  the  flashing  garb  of  enameled  paper,  and  blue  and  gold,  is  an 
incident  which  anticipates  excuse.  The  Publishers  base  their  confidence  of  its 
kind  reception  on  the  merit  of  accuracy,  and  they  give  it  to  the  country  as  a 
record  in  which  the  reader  may  find  pleasure,  and  from  which  the  historian  may 
gather  information  with  assurance  of  its  truth.  The  series  will  consist  of  four 
or  more  volumes,  each  of  which  will  be  issued  in  as  rapid  succession  as  circum- 
stances will  permit.  The  engravings  have  been  executed  with  care  and  skill, 
and  are  takeu  from  special  photographs  obtained  by  the  Publishers  themselves. 
The  biographical  sketches,  which  accompany  them,  are  made  up  from  official 
reports  and  private  information  from  the  most  reliable  sources.  The  enterprise 
is  one  which  has  long  been  held  in  contemplation,  and  at  an  early  period  of  last 
year  a  revision  of  data  was  commenced,  with  a  view  to  the  speedy  publication 
of  the  work.  The  interruptions  and  disappointments  consequent  upon  the  state 
of  affairs  delayed  it  however,  and  its  appearance  was  postponed.  Were  we  to 
await  the  consummation  of  all  the  arrangements  which  had  been  made,  the  pub- 
lication would  still  be  delayed  for  several  months,  but  we  prefer  to  commence 
with  the  opening  of  Spring,  and  take  a  fair  start  with  the  early  birds  of  the 
proverbial  season  of  new  books,  even  though  it  be  at  the  expense  of  having  to 
appear  in  a  garb  less  inviting  than  our  own  taste  would  desire.  The  succeeding 
volumes  will  excel  the  present  one  in  this  respect.  With  this  brief  explanation 
we  commit  the  First  Volume  to  the  Reader. 


INTRODUCTION 


'•  The  living  and  the  dead  arc  hac!"  We  ask  ourselves  in  vain  how  many 
of  those  whose  immortality  await  fruition  in  the  touch  of  death  will  have  taken 
their  places  in  the  halls  of  the  Eternal  ere  the  concluding  volumes  of  our  work 
are  given  to  the  world.  Hope,  with  its  golden  veil,  hides  from  us  all  save  the 
smiles  of  the  Future.  But  we  have  seen  the  Past,  and  are  familiar  with  its 
characteristics.  ^  Our  soldiers  are  brave.  That  courage  which  defends,  that 
heroism  which  dares,  that  fire  of  soul  which  burns  a  path  of  fury  through  a 
sea  of  terrors;  stand  recorded  over  their  unnumbered  graves  and  glisten  in  the 
memorial  light  of  their  tattered  flags.  In  this  llevolution  all  are  heroes.  Each 
leader  is  not  only  a  representative,  but  an  impersonation.  His  heart  is  the  heart 
of  the  Army.  The  sympathy  is  sublime — it  is  love — it  is  more  than  love — it  is 
almost  adoration !  That  vast  and  terrible  aggregation  of  armed  men  which 
suddenly  leaped  from  the  bosom  of  the  South,  early  in  the  Spring  of  18G1,  was 
no  pulseless,  cold  and  mere  obedient  machine.  Its  firm  and  regular  tread,  as 
it  massed  on  the  bristling  borders  of  the  North,  or  moved  in  stately  columns 
along  the  shadowless  wastes  "  down  by  the  sounding  sea,"  was  not  the  step  of  a 
"  standing  army."  That  monstrous  accumulation  of  human  puppets  fell  to  the 
fortune  of  the  enemy.  The  animm  of  independence  gathered  its  propelling 
force  in  every  breast  of  the  great  uprising  mass  of  Southern  patriots,  and  sent 
them,  with  resistless  momentum,  forward,  everywhere,  to  the  field  of  danger. 
There  was  no  impediment  in  space — no  quiver  in  the  speeding  nerve.  They 
shot  from  point  to  point  like  comets,  sweeping  along  the  surface  of  the  earth. 

This  will  be  known  in  the  future  as  the  spirit  of  '61. 

Then  came  Sumter,  and  Bethel,  and  Manassas.  The  tufted  green  of  patri- 
archal pines  that  had  peacefully  nodded  in  the  winds  of  eighty  summers ;  the 
slopes  of  velvet  verdure  on  whose  cushioned  surface  had  shone  for  many  a  year 
the  starry  tracks  of  angels,  over  which  the  bee  and  fairy  butterfly  swam,  in 
the  fragrant,  sunny  air;  the  weird  and  perfumed  thicket,  and  the  dell,  mossy 
and  shadowy  and  secluded  ;  and  the  innumerable  fields  of  laughing  grain ;  and 
the  haunted  solitudes  and  romance-breathing  streams — threw  off  their  sweet 
immaculate  illusions,  and  breathed  the  sulphurous  atmosphere  of  War.  Peace, 
that  hung  in  haloes  around  the  flashing,  unencrimsoued  bayonets  of  our  hero- 
legions  ;  Peace,  that  whispered  in  the  music  of  the  sea  and  stayed  the  crash  of 
the  yet  impending  conflict;  Peace,  that  stole  its  silvery  way  along  the  eve  of 
battle,  and  smiled,  transfigured,  in  the  dawn  of  victory,  fled.  A  star  had  fallen, 
and  it  was  the  star  of  Phage'  It  fell  annng  the  visions  of  the  past.  The 
summer  and  the  winter  rolled  away,  grim  with  death;  but  bright  with  triumph 


« 


o 


INTRODUCTION.  v 

to  Southern  arms.  Then  a  year  of  disaster  came  and  red  fires  lit  up  the  horizon. 
The  lurid  gleam  shone  horrible  with  visions  of  dismay,  distress  and  shame,  and 
the  pain  went  home  to  myriads  of  Southern  hearts.  Another  year,  grand  with 
victories,  terrible  iu  carnage,  swept  in  full-orbed  "lory  by.  We  turn  from  the 
threshold  of  the  fourth  to  look  back  through  the  vista  of  fire,  and  view,  amidst 
its  sacred  scenery,  the  features  of  the  dead  ! 

Animate  iu  death,  in  battle  front,  gory  on  breast  and  cheek  and  arm,  and 
palled  in  the  smoke  of  the  first  Manassas,  Bee  and  Bartow  lie.  Upon  the 
blooming  prairies  of  Kentucky  another- battle  "  rides  upon  the  storm,"  and  the 
noble  Zollicoefer  falls  expiring  under  the  very  gaze  of  the  exultant  foe.  Still 
deeper  on  the  distance  of  the  West,  under  a  storm  of  lead,  brave  men,  mingling 
with  their  allied  brothers  of  the  forest,  mourn  over  3IcCulloch  and  McImv.se, 
whose  priceless  blood  the  thirsty  sod  drinks  in  beneath  their  feet.  At  Shiloh 
a  martyr  falls.  In  the  mountainous  wilds  of  Northern  Virginia,  the  Amibys, 
sublime  in  deeds,  almost  invulnerable,  pour  out  their  life.  The  young  and 
chivalrous  Wise  accepts,  on  the  treacherous  shores  of  lionnokc  Island,  that 
''other  choice"  of  heroes — death — and  dies  iu  triumph,  though  a  captive;  and 
the  brave  and  brilliant  Latane  falls  in  the  deadly  fray  that  illuminates  the 
arms  of  Stuart's  men  in  the  charge  at  Hanover. 

But  wept  by  the  very  stars  of  Heaven,  that  trembled  as  they  looked  upon 
those  midnight  flashes  in  the  Wilderness,  the  bleeding  form  of  the  Achilles 
of  the  South,  Stonewall  Jackson,  meets,  with  its  drapery  of  sadness,  the 
wandering  gaze — a  name  on  which  a  country  calls  in  vain  and  will  not  realize 

Ler  loss — for 

"she  remembers  thee  as  one 

Lo:  g  loved,  but  for  a  season  gone  ; 
For  thee  her  Poet's  lyre  is  wreathed, 
Her  marble  wrought,  her  mu3ic  breathed; 
For  thee  she  riDgs  her  birth-day  bells; 
For  thee  her  babe's  first  lisping  tells  : 
For  thine  her  evening  prayer  is  said 
At  palace  couch  and  cottage  bed ; 
Her  soldier,  closing  with  the  foe, 
Gives  for  tby  sake  a  deadlier  blow; 
His  plighted  maiden,  when  she  fear3 
For  him,  the  joy  of  her  young  years, 
Thinks  of  thy  fate  and  checks  her  tears  " 

The  scene  euds  not  hire;  but  the  review  becomes  burthensome  with  sorrow. 
The  living  still  must  add,  alas  !  to  the  endless  roll  of  death.  As  in  the  past,  a 
fiery  and  uneakulating  courage  has  marked  both  the  men  and  leadeis  of  the 
Southern  Army,  we  must  anticipate  for  the  future  many  and  costly  sacrifices. 
We  have  many,  as  the  record  of  these  pages  well  attest,  yet  to  adorn  the  field 
and  inspire  the  charge;  but  none,  none  to  spare.  As  the  war  drags  its  slow 
length  along,  all  will  be  needed,  and  though  it  seems  not  iu  their  nature,  wo 
jet  trust  that  it  will  be  in  their  power,  to  husband  their  courage  and  succeed. 


CONTENTS. 


PACK 

General  Samuel  Cooper 17 

General  Robert  Edward  Lee 21 

Lieutenant-General  Thomas  Jonathan  Jackson 27 

Major  John  Singleton  Mosby t  35 

Major-General  "Wade  Hampton 43 

Major-General  Gustavus  Woodson  Smith 4T 

Lieutenant-General  James  Longstreet 50 

Lieutenant-General  Ambrose  Powell  Hill 54 

Lieutenant-General  Richard  S.  Eweil 56 

Major  John  Pelham 60 

General  Joseph  Eggleston  Johnston 67 

Brigadier-General  James  H.  Lane 74 

Lieutenant-General  John  C.  Pemberton 76 

Commodore  George  N.  Hoiiins 78 

Lieutenant-General  John  B.  Hood 81 

Major-General  T.  C.  Hindman 84 

Major-General  Martin  Luther  Smith 86 


GENERAL  SAMUEL  COOTER. 


GENERAL  SAMUEL  COOPER. 


The  world  has  seen  but  one  Crcsar  and  one  Napoleon,  nor  is  it  probable  that 
it  will  see  another  of  either  for  ten  centuries  to  come.  Yet,  when  armies  are 
already  organized,  and  provided  with  all  the  weapons  and  munitions  of  war, 
there  will  always  be  found  generals  to  lead  them  with,  at  least,  tolerable  ability. 
To  originate  armies  out  of  the  mass  of  a  population  unused  to  the  stern  disci- 
pline of  the  camp — to  create  the  munitions  of  war  out  of  literally  nothing — to 
form  soldiers  out  of  a  population  brave  indeed,  but  undisciplined  and  impatient 
of  restraint — this  is  a  task  quite  as  difficult  as  to  lead  them  to  victory  after  they 
have  been  once  organized.  The  mind  that  accomplishes  this  is,  at  least  as  rare 
as  the  mind  that  conceived  the  battle  of  Pharsalia,  or  that  planned  the  over- 
throw of  the  Russians  and  Austrians  at  Austerlitz. 

Carnot  possessed  this  faculty  in  a  high  degree,  and  so  does  the  illustrious 
general,  whose  services  it  is  the  purpose  of  this  sketch  to  illustrate.  It  is 
proper  to  remark,  that  the  task  accomplished  by  Carnot  was  much  easier  than 
that  accomplished  by  General  Cooper.  The  former  had  an  army  of  150,000 
regular  troops,  which  had  been  employed  by  the  King,  and  which  had  all  come 
over  to  the  Republic,  to  begin  with.  This  body  afforded  a  nucleus  around 
which  the  new  levies  might  be  formed  into  an  army,  and  many  of  France's 
most  illustrious  soldiers  came  out  of  its  ranks.  The  latter  had  no  advantage  of 
the  sort.  He  was  obliged  to  create  all — army,  artillery,  small  arms,  horses,  the 
means  of  feeding  the  men,  every  thing  in  fact — for  we  were  utterly  destitute  of 
every  thing,  and  we  had  neither  money  to  buy,  nor  access  to  the  proper  markets, 
if  we  had  had  it.  To  the  amazement  of  the  whole  world,  and  to  the  amazement 
of  no  portion  of  it  so  profoundly  as  to  the  Yankees,  a  powerful  army  wa&  created, 
was  led  to  the  field,  and  has  been  constantly  victorious  ever  since.  It  is  one  of 
the  miracles  of  history,  and  the  credit  of  having  wrought  it  is  due  more  to 
General  Cooper  than  to  all  other  persons  combined. 

General  Cooper  is  a  native  of  the  State  of  New  York.  He  was  born  in  the 
year  1708,  and  in  1813,  when  only  fifteen  years  old,  entered  the  Military 
Academy  at  West  Point.  The  period  of  study  was  not  so  long  at  that  time  as 
it  is  now,  so  that  he  graduated  in  1815,  and  received  his  commission  of  second 
lieutenant  of  light  artillery,  by  brevet,  on  the  11th  of  December  of  that  year. 
He  became  second  lieutenant  in  1817,  and  when,  in  1821,  the  army  was  re- 
organized, he  was  retained  in  the  rank  he  then  held.  ,  He  became  first  lieutenant, 
during  the  same  year,  of  the  Third  Artillery;  and,  in  1824,  was  transferred  to 


13  THE  WAR  AND  ITS  HEROES. 

the  Fourth.  In  182*,  he  became  aide-de-camp  to  General  Macomb,  and  con- 
tinued to  serve  in  that  capacity  until  1830.  In  1831,  he  was  appointed  captain, 
by  brevet,  "for  faithful  service  ten  years  in  one  grade."  In  1836,  he  became  a 
fall  captain.  In  1847,  he  was  made  brevet  major  of  the  staff  (assistant  adjutant- 
general),  and,  in  1848,  brevet  colonel  of  the  staff,  "  for  meritorious  conduct," 
particularly  in  the  performance  of  his  duties  in  the  prosecution  of  tlie  Mexican 
war.  In  1852,  General  Cooper,  whose  peculiar  talent  had  become  widely  known 
to  the  army  aud  the  public,  was  appointed  adjutant-geueral  of  the  United  States. 
Into  that  office,  he  was  brought  directly  and  continually  into  contact  with  the 
present  President  of  the  Confederate  States,  when  Secretary  of  War  to  the 
United  States.  Doubtless  President  Davis  soon  discovered  his  extraordinary 
qualifications  for  that  office,  if  he  was  ignorant  of  them  before.  The  conse- 
quences were  most  beneficial  to  the  country.  General  Cooper,  whose  political 
principles  had  long  been  well  known,  resigned  his  office  three  days  after  the 
inauguration  of  Lincoln  (7th  March,  1SG1).  He  immediately  offered  his  ser- 
vices to  President  Davis,  and,  on  the  10th  of  March,  was  appointed  Adjutant- 
General  of  the  Confederate  States.  lie  found  a  Herculean  task  before  him. 
An  army  was  to  be  created,  furnished  with  every  thing,  and  taught  to  fight. 
How  ably  he  has  accomplished  his  task  let  the  noble  army  now  in  the  field  and 
the  proud  military  attitude  of  the  country  testify. 

General  Cooper  is  the  compiler  of  a  work  on  tactics,  designed  for  the  use 
of  the  militia  of  the  United  States.  It  is  highly  spoken  of  by  those  who  are 
acquainted  with  the  subject  of  which  it  treats.  He  is  the  highest  in  rank  of 
all  our  generals. 


G3NERAL  ROBERT  EDWARD  LEE, 


GENERAL  ROBERT  EDWARD  LEE. 


The  achievements  of  this  distinguished  officer  form  the  most  remarkable 
chapter,  not  only  in  the  history  of  the  present  gigantic  war,  but,  in  some 
respects,  in  the  entire  annals  of  war.  To  dotail  them  minutely  would  fill  a. 
volume  even  larger  than  this,  and  we,  therefore,  leave  this  agreeable  task  to  the 
future  historian.  In  the  halcyon  days,  which  we  opine  are  not  far  distant, 
the  student  of  history  will  delight  to  dwell  upon  them,  even  as  we  delight 
to  find  rescued  from  oblivion  any  little  circumstance  of  early  youth  in  which 
Napoleon  or  Washington  was  concerned. 

llobert  Edward  Lee  is  a  member  of  the  old  historical  family  of  Westmoreland 
Lees.  He  is  the  youngest  son,  by  a  second  marriage,  of  General  Henry  Lee, 
better  known  to  history  by  his  soubriquet  of  "  Light  Horse  Harry,"  the  friend 
and  confidant  of  Washington,  and  the  author  of  one  of  the  most  pleasant  his- 
tories ever  written  by  a  Virginian.  He  was  born  at  Stratford,  in  Westmoreland 
county,  in  1806,  in  the  same  house  and  in  the  same  chamber  in  which  Richard 
Henry  Lee  and  Francis  Light  foot  Lee,  two  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, were  born. 

He  entered  West  Point,  as  a  cadet  from  his  native  State,  in  1825.  On  the 
first  day  of  his  entrance  he  took  the  head  of  his  class,  and  kept  it  until  he 
graduated  in  1829,  having  never  been  marked  with  a  demerit,  or  been  subjected 
to  a  reprimand,  or  received  any  other  species  of  punishment  whatever,  during 
the  whole  time  of  his  residence.  Having  graduated  at  the  head  of  his  class,  he 
Was,  of  course,  selected  for  service  in  the  corps  of  topographical  engineers,  which 
was  always  filled  from  the  ranks  of  the  highest  graduates.  He  entered  upon  his 
new  field  of  duty  in  July,  1829,  with  the  brevet  rank  of  second  lieutenant.  We 
hear  no  more  of  him  until  1835,  when  he  was  appointed  assistant  astronomer 
for  fixing  the  boundary  line  between  Ohio  and  Michigan.  He  became  first 
lieutenant  in  September,  1836,  and  captain  in  July,  1838.  In  1845,  he  was 
chief  engineer  in  the  army  of  General  Wool,  in  Mexico.  In  1847,  he  was  bre- 
vetted  major,  for  "gallant  and  meritorious  conduct"  in  the  battle  of  Cerro 
Gordo,  fought  April  18th,  1847.  He  received  a  second  brevet  for  " gallant  and 
meritorious  conduct"  in  the  battles  of  Contreras  and  Cherubusco,  and  was  now 
lieutenant-colonel  by  brevet.  For  gallant  and  meritorious  conduct  in  the  battle 
of  Chapultepec,  where  he  was  wounded,  on  the  1st  September,  1852,  he  was 
appointed  superintendent  of  the  Military  Academy.  How  long  he  continued  in 
that  post  we  do  not  know;  but  we  find  him,  in  1858,  lieutenant-colonel  of  the 


22  THE  WAR  AND  ITS  HEROES. 

famous  regiment  of  cavalry  of  which  Albert  Sydney  Johnston  was  colonel,  and 
as  such  highly  distinguishing  himself  in  the  desperate  fight  with  the  Indians  on 
the  prairies  of  Texas,  which  created  so  much  excitement  at  the  time.  Nor  do 
we  know  how  he  came  to  be  at  Washington  at  the  time  of  John  Brown's  attempt 
at  insurrection ;  but  we  Jo  know  that  he  was  sent  by  President  Buchanan,  with 
a  body  of  marines,  to  capture  that  outlaw,  and  that  he  did  it. 

Such  is  a  brief  outline  of  the  services  rendered  to  the  old  United  States  by 
Bobert  E.  Lee  duriug  the  long  period  of  thirty  years. 

In  the  old  army  he  was  believed  by  all  officers,  almost  without  exception  to 
be,  by  many  degrees,  the  most  accomplished  soldier  in  the  whole  army.  His 
superiority,  indeed,  was  so  incontestable,  that  it  excited  no  jealousy  whatever 
in  any  quarter.  When  his  reputation  had  been  somewhat  impaired  for  the 
time,  by  his  campaign  in  Westtfn  Virginia,  a  distinguished  officer,  now  in  the 
service  of  Virginia,  but  heretofore  for  many  years  an  officer  in  the  old  army 
of  the  United  States,  observed  that  injustice  was  done  to  General  Lee — 
that,  in  the  old  army,  each  officer  perfectly  understood  the  calibre  of  every 
other — that  Lee  was,  by  the  acknowledgment  of  all,  the  first  man  in  the  ser- 
vice— and  that,  if  an  opportunity  were  afforded  him;  he  would  prove  what  he 
was,  in  a  way  that  would  silence  scepticism  forever.  The  opinion  entertained 
of  him  by  General  Scott  is  well  known.  "Lee,"  said  that  vain  and  self-suffi- 
cient old  coxcomb,  u  is  the  greatest  military  genius  in  America,  myself  not 
excepted."  He  might  very  well  say  so,  if  it  be  true,  as  has  often  been  said,  that 
to  the  genius  of  Lee  he  owed  the  laurels  he  had  reaped  in  Mexico.  Whether 
this  anecdote,  however,  be  true  or  false,  it  is  well  known  that  he  regretted  the 
loss  of  Lee  more  than  that  of  all  the  other  officers,  when  Lee  determined  to 
stand  by  the  land  that  gave  him  birth,  and  that  he  made  the  most  strenuous 
efforts  to  retain  him.  He  might  as  well  have  attempted  to  roll  back  the  earth 
in  its  daily  revolution  ujpon  it  axis.  General  Lee  is  the  most  thorough  of  all 
Virginians.  Virginian  in  sentiment  and  feeling,  his  father's  son  could  scarcely 
avoid  being ;  but  he  is  more  thoroughly  Virginian  than  could  be  expected  even 
from  a  person  born  and  connected  like  himself.  So  intense  is  this  feeling,  that 
he  has  been  heard  to  say,  even  since  his  wonderful  successes  have  placed  him 
at  the  very  head  of  his  Age,  that  he  had  but  one  ambition,  and  that  was  to  be 
Governor  of  Virginia.  It  was,  therefore,  as  certain  as  any  future  event  could 
be,  that  as  soon  as  Virginia  seceded,  he  would  go  along  with  her.  She  did 
secede  in  April,  1S01,  and,  a  few  days  after,  her  Convention  appointed  him 
Commander-in-Chief  of  her  forces.  He  arrived  in  Bichmond  about  the  25th 
of  April,  having  sent  in  his  resignation  of  his  commission  in  the  old  army  some 
time  before. 

General  Lee  immediately  entered  upon  the  duties  of  his  office.  It  may  be 
presumed  that  they  were  of  the  most  arduous  character;  but  difficulties  disap- 
peared beneath  his  fingers,  as  though  they  had  been  dissolved  by  magic.  He 
had  an  army  to  organize  and  drill,  the  taaterials  of  war  to  create  almost  out  of 
nothing,  the  troops  to  arm,  clothe  and  feed,  after  they  had  been  collected,  and 


THE  WAR  AN'D  ITS  HEROES.  23 

all  the  duties  of  a  minister  of  war  to  discharge,  in  addition  to  his  more  imme- 
diate duties  of  General-in-Chief.  It  is  impossible,  for  the  want  of  materials,  to 
furnish  an  account  of  his  administration  between  the  time  of  entering  upon  his 
office  and  that  of  turning  the  army  of  Virginia  over  to  the  Confederacy.  When 
the  difficulties  with  which  he  was  surrounded  are  taken  into  consideration,  we 
feel  convinced  that  his  services  will  bear  a  comparison  with  those  of  Carnot,  or 
any  other  war  minister  that  ever  existed.  "When  President  Davis  made  his 
appointments  of  generals,  he  was  the  third  on  the  list;  General  Cooper  being 
first  and  General  Sydney  Johnston  second.  The  appointments  were  made  with 
reference  to  the  rank  held  by  each  officer  in  the  old  army. 

After  the  defeat  and  death  of  General  Garnett,  General  Lee  was  appointed 
by  President  Davis  to  take  command  of  our  forces  in  Western  Virginia.  In  the 
early  part  of  August  he  repaired  to  his  command,  carrying  with  him  reinforce- 
ments enough  to  swell  his  force  to  16,000  men.  On  the  short  campaign  which 
ensued  it  is  not  our  purpose  to  dwell.  It  is  well  known  to  have  failed,  whether 
through  any  fault  of  the  General  it  is  impossible,  among  conflicting  statements, 
to  decide.  The  hopes  of  the  people  were  very  high  when  he  took  command, 
and  their  confidence  in  his  skill  unbounded.  When,  therefore,  the  campaign 
resulted  in  a  failure,  there  was  no  measure  to  the  indignation  of  the  country. 
President  Davis,  however,  who  is  himself  a  military  man,  and  had  the  whole 
facts  in  his  possession,  formed  a  very  different  opinion  of  the  case  from  any  that 
had  been  formed  by  those  who  knew  nothing  but  what  had  been  gathered  from 
the  newspapers.  He  acquitted  Gcueral  Lee  thoroughly,  and  that  acquittal  must 
be  considered  decisive.  It  was  not  so  considered  at  the  time,  however,  by  the 
people.  General  Lee's  military  reputation  fell  immeasurably,  and  from  one  of 
the  most  popular  generals  in  the  service  he  became  decidedly  unpopular.  '  His 
case  presents  one  of  the  strongest  examples  on  record  of  the  folly  and  injustice 
of  judging  any  man  by  the  standard  of  popular  appreciation.  Had  he  not -had 
an  opportunity  afforded  him  of  proving  what  he  really  was,  he  would  have  gone 
down  to  posterity  as  an  inefficient  officer,  entirely  unequal  to  the  command  of 
even  a  brigade. 

Immediately  on  his  return  from  this  unsuccessful  campaign,  General  Lee 
was  appointed  to  command  in  the  military  district  of  which  Charleston  is  the 
centre.  His  skill  as  an  engineer  had  never  been  doubted,  notwithstanding  his 
ill  success  as  Commander-in-Chief;  and  he  was  expected  to  put  it  in  practice 
in  fortifying  the  city  and  harbor  of  Charleston.  He  succeeded  completely. 
Having  accomplished  this  object,  General  Lee  returned  to  Richmond.  It  was 
soon  after  this  that  our  disasters  in  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  began  to  occur. 
Their  effect  upon  the  country  was  depressing  in  the  extreme.  Congress,  at 
that  time  in  session,  passed  a  joint  resolution  appointing  General  Lee  Com- 
mander-in-Chief. Whether  this  act  was  vetoed  by  the  President  we  do  not 
know,  but  he  seems  of  his  own  accord  to  have  placed  General  Lee  in  a  position 
almost  equivalent;  in  one  which  gave  him,  in  fact,  the  largest  share  in  the 
control  and  direction  of  the  war.     It  was  probably  owing  to  his  advice  that  the 


24  THE  WAR  AND  ITS  HEROES. 

policy  of  concentration  was  adopted  as  the  only  one   that  could  enable   our 
inferior  forces  to  contend  successfully  with  the  huge  levies  of  the  Yankees. 

We  now  come  to  the  real  commencement  of  General  Lee's  career,  a  career  so 
brilliaut  as  to  establish  his  claim  to  be  reckoned  among  the  greatest  captains 
that  have  risen  in  the  world.  The  army  of  McClellan  was  around  Richmond. 
It  had  been,  at  the  commencement  of  the  Peninsula  campaign,  108,000  strong. 
It  had  suffered  severely  in  battle,  and  more  severely  still  from  disease.  Still  it 
numbered,  according  to  the  best  estimate  we  have  been  able  to  make,  at  least 
130,000  men.  General  Johnston  had  gained  a  great  victory  at  Seven  Pines, 
but  the  country  was  deprived  of  his  services  at  this  critical  juncture  by  the 
severe  wound  which  he  had  received  in  that  battle.  President  Davis  believed 
that  nobody  could  so  well  supply  his  place  as  General  Lee,  and  he  was  accord- 
ingly ordered  to  take  the  command.  He  did  so  on  the  1st  of  June.  He  saw,  at 
a  glance,  that  the  siege  of  Richmond  could  not  be  raised  without  beating  the 
enemy  out  of  the  formidable  works  in  which  they  had  entrenched  themselves, 
and  he  immediately  set  about  devising  the  means  to  accomplish  it.  How  it  was 
done  we  leave  the  future  historian  to  describe.  It  suffices  our  purpose  to  chron- 
icle the  result.  In  the  course  of  one  week,  General  Lee,  by  a  series  of  combi- 
nations unsurpassed  in,the  history  of  war,  had  succeeded  in  beating  the  enemy 
out  of  a  succession  of  fortifications  of  the  most  formidable  character,  had  driven 
him  from  around  Richmond,  to  a  place  thirty  miles  below,  and  had  relieved  all 
fears  for  the  safety  of  the  capital.  That  he  did  not  completely  destroy  the 
enemy  was  no  fault  of  his. 

General  Lee  is  the  most  successful  general  of  the  age.  His  exploits  are  bril- 
liant almost  beyond  example.  When  we  say  this  of  a  man  who  commands  an 
immense  army,  it  is  supererogatory  to  say  anything  of  his  talents.  Nothing  but 
genius  of  the  highest  order  can  conceive  the  combinations  necessary  to  insure 
the  uninterrupted  success  of  so  large  a  host,  over  an  enemy  greatly  superior  in 
force.  In  all  departments  of  science  his  acquirements  are  great,  aflTd  has  besides 
an  uncommon  stock  of  general  information.  His  judgment  is  as  quick  as  his 
military  glance,  and  it  rarely  deceives.  Withal  he  is  one  of  the  most  unpre- 
tending men  in  the  world — a  thorough  gentleman  in  his  manners — very  affable 
to  all  who  approach  him — and  extremely  amiable  in  private  life.  He  is  about 
live  feet  ten  inches  high,  was  eminently  handsome  in  his  youth,  is  still  one  of 
the  finest  looking  men  in  the  army,  rides  like  a  knight  of  the  old  crusading 
days,  is  indefatigable  in  business,  and  bears  fatigue  like  a  man  of  iron. 


LIEUTENANT-GENERAL    THOMAS   JONATHAN   JACKSON. 


LIEUT.  GEN.  THOMAS  JONATHAN  JACKSON. 


Thomas  Jonathan  Jackson  was  born  January  21,  1824,  in  Clarksburg,  Har- 
rison county,  Virginia.  His  great  grandfather,  an  Englishman  by  birth,  emi- 
grated to  the  western  portion  of  Virginia;  and  Edward  Jackson,  grandfather 
of  the  general,  was  surveyor  of  Lewis  county  for  a  long  time,  representing  it  in 
the  Legislature.  His  son,  Jonathan  Jackson,  father  of  the  general,  moved  to 
Clarksburg,  where  he  studied  and  commenced  the  practice  of  law  with  his 
cousin,  John  G.  Jackson,  acquiring  considerable  reputation,  and  marrying  Miss 
Neal,  a  daughter  of  Thomas  Neal,  of  Wood  county.  He,  however,  became 
embarrassed  in  his  circumstances  by  going  security  for  friends,  and  all  his 
property  was  eventually  swept  away.  "When  he  died,  in  1827,  his  children 
were  left  penniless.  These  childien  were  four  in  number — two  sons  and  two 
daughters — Thomas,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  being  the  youngest,  and  at  the 
time  but  three  years  old. 

•  The  child  was  thus  left  upon  the  very  threshold  of  life  to  learn  the  hard 
lesson  of  poverty.  But  this  lesson,  thus  early  learned,  bore  ample  fruits  in  a 
soil  so  rich  and  auspicious  to  the  finer  growth  of  the  human  soul.  The  young 
man  was  taught  from  the  very  commencement  of  his  earthly  career  to  make  up 
by  honest  toil  for  the  neglect  of  fortune,  and,  instead  of  frittering  away  his  time 
and  faculties  in  the  haunts  of  pleasure  or  the  frivolous  pursuits  of  youths  gene- 
rally, to  turn  his  attention  to  the  more  ennobling  aims  of  life,  and  fit  himself 
for  that  career  in  which  he  was  to  secure  his  great  fame. 

Soon  after  the  death  of  his  parents  he  was  taken  to  the  home  of  an  uncle  in 
Lewis  county,  and  remained  at  that  place — the  family  homestead  of  the  Jack- 
son*, in  which  his  father  had  been  born — until  he  reached  the  age  of  seventeen. 
Here  he  labored  on  the  farm  in  summer  and  went  to  school  three  months  in  the 
winter,  gaining  the  rudiments  of  a  plain  English  education — what  he  acquired 
subsequently  was  due  to  his  stay  at  "West  Point  and  his  ultimate  studies  at  the 
Virginia  Military  Institute.  His  habits  of  life,  even  at  this  early  age,  are  said 
to  have  been  grave  and  serious — his  discharge  of  every  duty  conscientious  and 
complete.  He  assisted  his  uncle  in  the  management  of  the  farm,  and  soon 
secured  among  the  residents  of  the  county  a  high  character  for  industry,  intel- 
ligence and  probity.  His  orphan  condition  excited  great  sympathy  among  the 
neighbors,  who  knew  and  respected  the  good  character  of  the  Jackson  family, 
and  every  assistance  was  rendered  him  in  his  struggle  to  carve  out  his  own  path- 
way in  life  and  secure  an  honorable  independence.     A  proof  of  this  friendly 


28  THE  WAR  AND  ITS  HEROES. 

sympathy  is  contained  in  the  fact  that,  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  he  was  elected 
constable  of  the  county  of  Lewis,  the  duties  of  which  office  he  discharged  with 
intelligence  and  credit. 

The  inclinations  of  the  young  man  seem,  however,  to  have  pointed  out  early 
towards  arms  as  a  profession.  Some  hereditary  instinct  of  his  family  for  war 
probably  developed  itself  in  the  grave  and  serious  youth — but  to  those  who 
believe,  as  we  do,  that  a  mightier  hand  than  man's  shapes  all  human  events, 
this  early  inclination  will  appear  to  have  been  the  means  of  fitting  him  for  the 
grand  p:i rt  he  was  eventually  to  have  in  the  assertion  of  Southern  liberties.  It 
is  certain  that  young  Jackson  found  himself  impelled  toward  a  military  career, 
and  at  the  ago  of  seventeen  he  set  out  for  Washington,  on  foot,  to  secure,  if 
possible,  an  appointment  as  cadet  at  West  Point.  This  he  was  enabled  to  do 
through  the  instrumentality  of  some  political  friends,  and  he  entered  upon  his 
studies  there  in  1842. 

In  July,  184(5,  at  the  age  of  twenty-two,  he  graduated  with  distinction,  was 
brevetted  second  lieutenant,  and  immediately  ordered  to  report  for  duty  in 
Mexico,  under  General  Taylor.  He  served  under  that  commander  until  General 
Scott  took  the  field,  when  he  was  transferred  to  the  command  of  the  latter. 
His  military  career  was  distinguished  and  his  promotion  rapid.  In  August, 
1847,  he  was  made  first  lieutenant  in  Magruder's  battery;  brevetted  captain  for 
"  gallant  and  meritorious  conduct  in  the  battles  of  Contreras  and  Cherubusco," 
August  20th,  1847,  (August,  1818,)  and  brevetted  major  "  for  gallant  and 
meritorious  conduct  in  the  battle  of  Chepultepec,"  September  13th,  1S47, 
(March,  1849.)  No  other  officer  had  so  distinguished  himself  and  risen  so 
rapidly  as  the  young  Virginian.  The  unknown  youth  had,  in  this  brief  space 
of  time,  attracted  the  attention  of  his  generals,  and  become  one  of  the  most 
promising  young  officers  of  the  army. 

The  climate  of  the  country  had,  however,  told  powerfully  upon  a  frame  at  no 
time  very  robust.  His  health  became  so  impaired  that  he  was  unable  to  dis- 
charge his  duties,  and,  with  the  high  sense  of  honor  which  marked  his  character, 
he,  on  the  conclusion  of  peace,  resigned  his  commission,  (February  29th,  1852.) 
Returning  to  Virginia,  he  obtained  a  professorship  in  the  Virginia  Military 
Institute,  and  continued  in  the  performance  of  the  important  duties  of  this 
position  until  the  breaking  out  of  the  present  war.  Soon  after  entering  upon 
his  duties  at  the  Military  Institute,  he  married  Miss  Junkin,  daughter  of  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Junkin,  principal  of  the  Washington  College.  This  lady  and  her 
children  died,  and  he  was  afterwards  married  to  Miss  Morrison,  of  North  Caro- 
lina— his  only  living  child,  a  daughter,  born  shortly  before  his  death,  being  the 
sole  issue  of  this  marriage. 

It  is  said  that,  while  in  Mexico,  a  battery  of  the  enemy  was  pouring  a  storm 
of  shot  aud  shell  down  a  road,  along  which  he  wished  his  men  to  advance. 
They  remained  under  cover,  out  of  the  fire,  shaken  in  nerve  and  fearing  to. 
venture  forth.  This  was  excessively  distasteful  and  mortifying  to  their  young 
commander,  and,  leaving  them,  he  advanced  to  the  road,  and  calmly  walked  up. 


THE  WAR  AN'D  ITS  HEROES.  29 

and  down  among  the  plunging  shot  and  shell,  calling  out,  coolly,  "Come  on — 
this  is  nothing — jou  see  they  can't  hurt  me!" 

It  will  thus  he  seen  that,  either  from  native  courage  or  that  sentiment  of 
predestination  alluded  to,  young  Jackson  had  already  acquired  the  dauntless 
nerve  and  coolness  which  afterwards  rendered  him  so  famous. 

The  penetrating  eyes  of  Napoleon,  had  he  seen  that  youth  calmly  walking 
amid  the  heavy  fire  of  the  enemy's  artillery,  and  declaring  coolly  that  it  "could 
not*hurt  him,"  would  have  discerned  much  in  his  face — would  have  understood 
that  this  young  man  would  "go  far." 

The  first  position,  we  believe,  held  by  General  Jackson,  after  the  secession 
of  Virginia,  was  that  of  commandant  of  the  camp  of  instruction  at  the  Fair 
Grounds,  in  Richmond.  He,  however,  did  not  remain  long  in  this  position. 
Having  received  the  first  colonel's  commission  issued  by  the  State  after  her 
secession,  he  was  ordered  to  a  point  where  he  would  be  of  more  use  to  the  cause 
in  which  we  were  about  to  engage.  Accordingly,  on  the  3d  of  May,  1861,  he 
took  command  at  Harper's  Ferry,  and  coutinued  in  that  position  until  the  23d 
of  May,  when  he  was  relieved  by  General  Joseph  E.  Johnston.  Jackson  was 
then  assigned  to  the  command  of  the  infantry  of  the  army  of  the  Shenandoah. 

General  Johnston,  after  taking  comm-ind,  assigned  to  Colonel  Jackson  the 
important  duty  of  checking  the  Yankee  General  Patterson  in  his  advance.  That 
duty  was  performed  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  General  Johnston  and  the 
country.  In  his  official  report  of  the  battle  of  Manassas,  General  Johnston 
said  : 

"  On  the  2d  of  July,  General  Patterson  again  crossed  the  Potomac.  Colonel 
Jackson,  pursuant  to  instructions,  fell  back  before  him.  In  retiring,  he  gave 
him  a  severe  lesson  in  the  affair  at  Falling  Waters.  With  a  battalion  of  the 
5th  Virginia  regiment  (Harper's)  and  Pendleton's  battery  of  field  artillery,  he 
engaged  the  enemy's  advance.  Skilfully  taking  a  position  where  the  smallness 
of  his  force  was  concealed,  he  engaged  them  for  a  considerable  time,  inflicted 
a  heavy  loss,  and  retired  when  about  to  be  outflanked,  scarcely  losing  a  man, 
but  bringing  off  forty-fee  prisoners." 

Shortly  after  this  affair,  Colonel  Jackson  was  made  a  Brigadier-General,  and 
it  was  understood  that  the  promotion  was  in  consequence  of  his  conduct  at 
Falling  Waters. 

But  it  was  at  the  battle  of  Manassas  that  Jackson  was  to  display,  in  their 
fullest  extent,  those  heroic  qualities  of  stubborn  courage  and  dauntless  resolu- 
tion which  characterized  him,  and  to  arouse  that  enthusiasm  which,  in  the 
latter  months  of  his  life,  rendered  him  the  idol  of  the  popular  heart. 

At  the  battle  of  Manassas,  on  the  21st  of  July,  1861,  Jackson,  with  his 
brigade,  was  placed  in  the  rear  of  General  Longstreet,  near  Blackburn's  Ford, 
the  scene  of  the  battle  of  the  18th.  This  force,  which,  on  that  day,  won  the 
name  of  the  "  Old  Stonewall  Brigade,"  consisted  of  the  2d  Virginia,  Colonel 
Allen ;  the  4th  Virginia,  Colonel  James  L.  Preston  ;  the  5th  Virginia,  Colonel 
Harper;  the  27th  Virginia,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Echols,  and  the  33d  Virginia, 


30  THE  WAR  AND  ITS  HEROES. 

Colonel  Cumming;  numbering  in  all  2,611  of  the  bravest  and  best  men  of  the 
Valley  of  Virginia. 

nOW   HE   OOT   THE    NAME   OP   u  STONEWALL." 

'Twas  at  the  first  battle  of  Manassas,  when  the  Southern  leaders  "  saw  with 
irrepressible  anguish  the  exhaustion  of  the  troops,  the  waning  fortunes  of  the  day, 
and  the  countless  reserves  which  the  enemy  hurled  incessantly  upon  their  thin 
and  weary  lines.  Among  these  was  the  heroic  General  Bee,  in  command  of  the 
4th  Alabama  and  some  Mississippians,  who  were  nearly  worn  out  by  the  terrible 
ordeal  through  which  they  had  passed.  Bee  rode  up  and  down  the  lines,  cheer- 
ing on  the  men,  and  beseeching  them,  by  all  they  held  dear,  not  to  give  way, 
when  he  met  Jackson,  and  said,  in  the  bitter  despair  of  his  heart,  "  General, 
they  are  beating  us  hack!"  The  face  of  the  stern,  silent  soldi»r  betrayed  no 
answering  emotion.  The  keen  eye  glittered  for  an  instant;  the  lips  opened; 
and  in  the  curt,  peculiar  tones  of  the  speaker  he  said,  "  Sir,  we  will  give  them 
the  bayonet!"  Bee  seemed  to  gather  new  inspiration  from  the  words;  he  gal- 
loped back  to  the  remnants  of  his  command,  and,  fronting  to  Jackson,  called 
out  to  his  men,  "  There  is  Jackson  standing  like  a  stonewall!  Let  us  determine 
to  die  here,  and  we  will  conquer.     Follow  me!"     *     *     * 

At  Manassas,  u  the  country  had  gaiued  a  splendid  victory  against  enormous 
odds ;  and,  although  he  did  not  then  know  it,  Jackson  had  gained  a  name  with 
which  he  is  forever  inseparably  identified.  "When  the  hemic  Bee  exclaimed, 
"There  is  Jackson  standing  like  a  stonewall,"  he  unconsciously  employed  a 
term  which  thenceforth  clung  to  Jackson  more  closely  than  his  baptismal  appel- 
lation. From  that  hot  day  of  battle,  the  leader  of  the  men  of  the  Valley  was 
known  as  "Stonewall  Jackson" — his  command  as  the  "Stonewall  Brigade." 
Many  are  ignorant  and  few  recall  the  fact,  that  the  great  soldier  was  christened 
"  Thomas  Jonathan."  His  veritable  christening  in  the  popular  heart  was  on 
that  evening  of  Manassas,  when  Bee,  about  to  surrender  his  great  soul  to  his 
Maker,  baptized  him,  amid  blood  and  fire,  "Stonewall  Jackson!" 

On  Saturday,  the  22d  of  April,  General  Jackson  rapidly  moved  his  little 
army  from  camp  near  Mount  Jackson  back  to  Cedar  Creek,  twenty-six  miles,  in 
one  day,  and  camped  there  that  night,  making  his  headquarters  in  Strasburg, 
which  was  evacuated  by  the  enemy  the  day  before. v  Early  the  next  morning 
(Sunday)  he  again  moved  forward,  and  his  artillery  opened  on  the  enemy, 
near  Kernstown,  about  twelve  o'clock.  An  artillery  duel  was  kept  up  until 
about  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  when  the  enemy's  infantry  advanced  in 
force,  and  were  met  heroically  by  Jackson's  brave  little  band.  Three  times  the 
"stars  and  stripes"  fell,  and  three  times  did  our  gallant  troops  drive  the  enemy 
headlong  to  the  hill.  The  first  brigade  (the  "  Stonewall ")  finally  came  up, 
and  again  a  fresh  column  of  the  enemy  was  driven  back,  leaving  the  side  of  the 
hill  black  with  their  dead. 

No  battle  has  been  fought  during  the  war  against  such  odds  and  under 
such  trying  circumstances.     With  a  force  not  exceeding  3,500  men — men  whfc 


THE  WAR  AND  ITS  HEROES.  31 

had  been  on  forced  matches  for  weeks,  the  ranks  thinned  by  the  process  of 
re-organization  in  front  of  the  enemy — Jackson  attacked  20,000  fresh  troops, 
repulsed  them  again  and  again,  and  so  crippled  the  dastardly  foe  that  he  dared 
not,  with  all  his  number.-,  follow  him  in  his  retreat.  Notwithstanding  the  great 
disparity  in  their  forces,  the  enemy  themselves  could  claim  nothing  more  than 
a  "  drawn  battle." 

TVe  next  hear  of  the  untiring  hero  at  Swift  Run  Gap,  occupying  a  strong 
position,  with  daily  skir:ui>hes  with  the  enemy.  He  remained  in  this  position 
a  short  time,  ani  then  fell  back  to  Staunton.  In  the  meantime,  the  enemy  had 
fallen  back  down  the  Valley  for  the  purpose  of  uniting  the  commands  of  Mc- 
Dowell, Banks  and  Fremont.  Immediately  after  this  movement  on  the  part  of 
the  enemy,  Jackson,  with  his  forces,  on  the  7th  of  May,  1861,  left  Staunton, 
and  on  the  evening  of  ffce  same  day  the  rear-guard  of  his  army  encamped  four 
miles  west  of  Buffalo  Gap,  fourteen  miles  from  Staunton.  General  Johnston's 
forces  had  advanced  to  Shenandoah  Mountain,  in  pursuit  of  Millroy,  who  was 
falling  back  before  the  united  forces  of  Jackson  and  Johnston.  Millroy  is  said 
to  have  had  about  8,000  effective  men. 

On  Thursday,  the  8th,  a  bloody  fight  took  place  between  Jackson's  forces  and 
the  enemy  under  General  Millroy,  at  Sutlinyton  Hill,  near  McDowell.  After 
four  hours'  fighting,  the  enemy  were  completely  routed  and  driven  from  all 
points.     General  Jackscn  thus  briefly  and  gracefully  announced  his  victory: 

Valley  District,  May  9th,  1862, 
Via  Stac.nto.v,  May  }Q(k. 
To  General  S.  Coopeb  : 

■ 
God  blessed  our  arms  with  victory  at  McDowell  yesterday. 

T.  J.  Jackson, 

Mfljor-GeneraJ. 

Fremont  was  expected  to  re-ioforce  Millroy  the  day  the  fight  took  place,  but 
did  not  arrive  in  time.  Jackson  captured  in  this  fight  one  hundred  boxes 
of  ammunition,  five  hundred  Enfield  rifles  and  Miuie  muskets,  from  sixty  to 
seventy-five  cavalry  saddles,  and  nearly  two  hundred  head  of  cattle,  which  had 
been  stolen  from  the  citizens  living  in  the  vicinity,  by  the  Yankees.  The  loss 
of  the  enemy  was  supposed  to  be  about  1,300. 

After  the  fight,  the  remnant  of  Millroy's  army  was  re-inforced  by  Fremont 
and  we  hear  nothing  more  from  our  gallant  hero  until  the  battle  of  "Winchester, 
which  was  announced  in  an  official  dispatch  from  General  Jackson : 

Winchester,  May  26. 
During  the  last  three  days  God  has  blessed  our  arms  with  brilliant  success* 
On  Friday,  the  Federals  at  Front  Royal  were  routed,  and  one  section  of  artil- 
lery, in  addition  to  many  prisoners,  captured.  On  Saturday,  Banks'  main 
column,  whilst  retreating  from  Strasburg  to  Winchester,  was  pierced;  the  rear 
part  retreating  towards  Strasburg.     On  Sunday,  the  other  part  was  routed  at 


32  THE  WAR  AND  ITS  HEKOES. 

this  place.  At  last  accounts,  Brigadier-General  George  H.  Stuart  was  pursuing 
them  with  cavalry  and  artillery,  and  capturing  mauy.  A  large  amount  of 
medical,  ordnance  and  other  stores  have  fallen  into  our  hands. 

T.  J.  Jackson. 

After  his  defeat,  Banks,  with  the  remnant  of  his  army,  fled  across  the  Poto- 
mac. The  stores  captured  at  Martinsburg  were  immense.  The  result  of  this 
fight  was  the  annihilation  of  an  array  from  12,000  to  lf>;000,  the  capture  of  an 
amount  of  provisions,  small  arms,  ordnance  stores,  horses,  wagons  and  camp 
equipage  almost  incredible,  and  the  destruction  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  road, 
the  main  artery  which  connects  the  Yankee  capital  with  the  West!  Jackson 
took  six  thousand  fine  rifles,  two  thousand  muskets,  six  hundred  sacks  of  salt, 
four  hundred  wagons,  many  horses,  twelve  pieces  of  artillery,  (three  being  rifled 
Parrot,  guns,)  $100,000  worth  of  medicines,  hospital  stores  of  every  imaginable 
kind — splints,  amputating  instruments,  chloroform,  oranges,  lemons,  dried  fruits, 
fresh  cheese,  every  luxury  a  sick  man  could  desire,  and  clothes  without  limit. 
Colonel  Ashby,  hearing  of  many  Yankee  sutlers  who  had  recently  set  up  their 
sho;^  in  the  country,  seized  them  and  loaded  two  hundred  wagons  with  the 
plunder.  A  portion  of  the  captured  stores  had  to  be  destroyed  in  our  retreat, 
but  all  the*guns  and  medicines  were  saved. 

General  Jackson  followed  Banks  in  his  retreat,  striking  a  blow  wherever 
opportunity  offered,  until  he  reached  the  Potomac.  He  then  turned  to  meet 
the  combined  forces  of  the  enemy  under  Fremont,  Shields  and  Dix,  who  were 
endeavoring  to  get  in  his  rear.  He  fell  back  this  side  of  Winchester,  making 
a  stand  at  Port  Republic,  in  Rockingham  county,  a  short  distance  this  side  of 
South  river. 

Sunday  morning,  the  8th  of  Juue,  18G2,  the  cuemy  crossed  the  river  in  two 
columns,  and  made  an  attack — Fremont  being  pitted  against  Ewell,  and  Shields 
against  Jackson.  After  a  short  conflict,  Freemont  was  completely  routed  and 
hotly  pursued  by  Ewell,  while  Jackson  held  Shields  in  check,  and  was  pressing 
him  against  the  Shenandoah.  The  following  characteristic  dispatch  was  received 
from  Jackson  announcing  the  victory: 

Neati  Port  Republic,  0(h, 
Via  Staunton,  June  10th,  1862. 
To  S.  Cooper,  Adjutant-General: 

Through  God's  blessing,  the  enemy  near  Port  Republic  was  this  day 
routed,  with  the  loss  of  six  pieces  of  his  artillery. 

[Signed]  T.  J.  Jackson, 

Major-Geuerat  Commanding. 

The  old  hero,  after  giving  the  astute  Yankee  generals  a  severe  lesson  in  the 
art  of  war,  left  them  fortifying  against  his  advance,  and  proceeded  with  his 
victorious  army  in  a  different  direction.  We  hear  nothing  more  from  him  until 
the  ball  opens  in  front  of  Richmond.  At  the  battle  of  Gaines'  Mill — in  the 
darkest  hour  and  moment — at  that  period  in  the  day's  fight  when  the  enemy 


THE  WAR  AND  ITS  HEROES.  33 

had  almost  succeeded  in  flanking  us  on  the  left — great  con  Vernation  is  heArd 
in  the  woods !  Volley  upon  volley  is  heard  in  rapid  succession,  which  is  at  once 
recognized  and  cheered  by  our  men.  "It  is  Jackson, "  they  shout,  "on  our 
right!"  Yes,  two  or  three  brigades  of  Jackson's  army  had  flanked  the  enemy, 
and  were  getting  in  his  rear.  Jackson  had  moved  fast,  aud  was  now  endeavor- 
ing to  head  the  retreating  foe.  Just  as  the  sun  was  about  to  sink  in  the  West — 
just  as  the  last  volleys  are  indistinctly  heard  in  the  enemy's  rear — a  courier 
arrives,  announcing  that,  ''through  the  Providence  of  God,"  Jacksou  had  fallen 
upon  the  retreating  column,  broken  it,  and  captured  three  hundred  prisoners. 
The  battle  was  won,  and  the  exhausted  heroes,  who  had  remained  to  strike  the 
finishing  blow,  wrap  their  martial  cloaks  around  them,  and  quietly  sleep  upon 
the  field  of  battle. 

Several  carefully  prepared  biographies  of  General  Jacksou  having  already 
been  published,  (to  one  of  which — Major  Cooke's — we  are  indebted  for  much 
contained  in  this  brief  sketch,)  we  deem  it  unnecessary  to  enter  into  further 
details,  and,  therefore,  come  to  the  closing  chapter  in  the  life  of  this  great  aud 
good  man. 

It  was  at  the  battle  of  Chancellorsville,  on  the  2Mb  nf  April,  1863,  after  the 
conflict  was  over,  when  Jackson  himself  had  said  "  the  danger  is  all  over,  the 
enemy  is  routed,"  aud  he  had  given  the  order  for  A.  P.  Hill  "  to  press  on," 
that  the  chieftain  turned  from  the  front,  and,  accompanied  by  his  staff,  rode 
back,  in  a  trot,  toward  his  own  men.  Unhappily  in  the  darkness — it  was  now 
nine  or  ten  o'clock  at  night — the  little  body  of  horsemen  was  mistaken  for 
Federal  cavalry  charging,  and  the  regiments  on  the  right  and  left  of  the  road 
fired  a  sudden  volley  into  them  with  the  most  lamentable  results.  Captain 
Boewell,  of  General  Jackson's  staff,  was  killed,  and  borne  into  our  lines  by  his 
horse;  Colonel  Crutchfield,  chief  of  artillery,  was  wounded;  and  two  couriers 
were  killed.  General  Jackson  received  one  ball  in  his  left  arm.  two  inches 
below  the  shoulder  joint,  shattering  the  bone  and  severing  the  chief  artery;  a 
second  passed  through  the  same  arm,  between  the  elbow  and  wrist,  making  its 
exit  through  the  palm  of  the  hand ;  a  third  ball  entered  the  palm  of  his  right 
hand,  about  the  middle,  and,  passing  through,  broke  two  of  the  bones.  lie  fell 
from  his  horse,  aud  was  caught  by  Captain  Wormley,  to  whom  he  said,  "All 
my  wounds  are  by  my  own  men." 

The  firing  was  responded  to  by  the  enemy,  who  made  a  sudden  advance,  and, 
the  Confederates  falling  back,  their  foes  actually  charged  over  Jackson's  body. 
He  was  not  discovered,  however,  and  the  Federals  being  driven  back  in  turn, 
he  was  rescued.  Ready  hands  placed  him  upon  a  litter,  and  he  was  borne  to 
the  rear,  amid  a  heavy  fire  from  the  enemy.  One  of  the  litter  bearers  was  shot 
down,  and  the  general  fell  from  the  shoulders  of  the  men,  receiving  a  severe 
contusion,  adding  to  the  injury  of  the  arm  and  injuring  the  side  severely.  The 
enemy's  fire  of  artillery  on  the  point  was  terrible.  General  Jacksou  was  left  for 
five  minutes  until  the  fire  slackened,  then  placed  in  an  ambulance  and  carried 
to  the  field  hospital  at  "Wilderness  Run.     He  lost  a  large  amount  of  biood,  and 


34  THE  WAR  Ax\D  ITS  HEROES. 

at  one  time  told  Dr.  McGuire  he  thought  he  was  dying,  and  would  have  hied  to 
death,  but  a  tourniquet  was  immediately  applied.  For  two  hours  he  was  nearly 
pulseless  from  the  shock.  As  he  was  being  carried  from  the  field,  frequent 
inquiries  were  made  by  the  soldiers,  "Who  have  you  there?"  He  told  the 
doctor,  "  Do  not  tell  the  troops  I  am  wounded." 

On  the  Thursday  following,  all  pain  had  ceased,  but  a  mortal  prostration 
came  on,  from  which  he  never  recovered.  He  still  conversed  feebly,  and  said, 
"I  consider  tbese  wounds  a  blessing;  they  were  given  me  for  some  good  and 
wise  purpose,  and  I  would  not  part  with  them  if  I  could." 

From  this  time  he  continued  to  sink,  and  on  Sunday  morning  it  was  obvious 
that  he  could  only  live  a  few  hours  longer.  His  mind  was  still  clear,  however, 
and  he  asked  Major  Pendleton,  his  adjutant-general,  "  who  was  preaching  at 
headquarters  on  that  day  ? "  Mrs.  Jackson  was  with  him  during  his  last 
moments,  and  conversed  with  him  fully  and  freely.  She  informed  him  that  he 
was  about  to  die,  and  his  reply  was,  "  Very  good,  very  good:  it  is  all  right!" 

He  then  sent  messages  to  all  his  friends,  the  generals  and  others,  and  mur- 
mured, in  a  low  voice,  his  wish  to  be  buried  in  '•  Lexington,  in  the  Valley  of 
Virginia." 

His  mind  then  began  to  wander,  and  that  delirium  which  seizes  upon  the 
most  powerful  minds,  the  most  vigorous  brains,  at  the  mysterious  moment,  when 
the  last  sands  fall  from  the  glass,  began  to  affect  him.  He  gave  orders  to  the 
commissary  of  his  corps,  the  surgeons,  and  the  commanders.  Among  the  last 
words  which  escaped  his  lips  were,  "A.  P.  Hill  prepare  for  action." 

After  this  he  speedily  sank,  and  at  dfteeu  minutes  past  three  in  the  evening 
he  tranquilly  expired. 


MAJOR  JOHN  SINGLETON  MOSBY. 


Among  the  daring  partisans  of  the  present  war,  few  have  rendered  such 
valuable  services  to  the  cause  as  Major  John  S.  Mosby. 

John  Singleton  Mosby  is  the  son  of  Alfred  D.  Mosby,  formerly  of  Albemarle 
county,  Va.,  but  now  residing  in  the  vicinity  of  Lynchburg.  He  is  the  mater- 
nal grandson  of  Mr.  James  McLaurine,  Sr.,  late  of  Powhatan  county,  Virginia. 
His  mother  was  Miss  Virginia  J.  McLaurine. 

The  subject  of  our  sketch  was  born  in  Powhatan  county,  Va.,  on  the  Gth  of 
December,  1833,  and  was  educated  at  the  University  of  Virginia.  When  quite 
a  young  man  he  was  married  to  the  daughter  of  the  Hon.  Beverly  Clarke,  late 
United  States  minister  to  Central  America. 

At  the  commencement  of  hostilities  between  the  North  and  South,  Mosby 
resided  at  Bristol,  Washington  county,  Va.,  where  he  was  successfully  engaged 
in  the  practice  of  law.     He  immediately  gave  up  his  profession,  and  entered 


36  THE  WAR  AND  ITS  HER0E3. 

the  army  as  a  private,  becoming  a  member  of  a  company  raised  in  Washington 
county,  and  couimauded  by  Captain  Jones — now  General  Jones — in  which  posi- 
tion he  served  for  twelve  months.  Upon  the  promotion  of  Captain  Jones  to  the 
colonelcy  of  the  1st  Virginia  Cavalry,  Mosby  was  chosen  as  adjutant. 

He  continued  in  this  position  but  a  short  time,  for  upon  the  re-organization 
of  the  regiment,  from  some  cause  the  colonel  was  thrown  out,  and  consequently 
his  adjutant  relieved  of  duty.  Mosby  was  then  chosen  by  General  J.  E.  B. 
Stuart  as  a  sort  of  independent  scout. 

He  first  attracted  public  attention  when  General  Joseph  E.  Johnston,  then 
in  command  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  fell  back  from  Manassas.  On  this 
occasion,  desiring  to  ascertain  whether  the  movement  of  McClellan  was  a  feint, 
or  if  he  really  intended  to  march  his  army  to  the  Peninsula,  General  Johustou 
despatched  Mosby  to  gain  the  desired  informationn.  Taking  five  men  with 
him,  Mosby  went  in  the  rear  of  McClellan's  army,  where  he  remained  some  daysr 
spending  his  time  in  converse  with  the  Yankee  soldiers,  from  whom  he  gained  all 
necessary  information,  and  then  made  his  way  safely  back  to  General  Johnston's 
headquarters. 

During  the  summer  of  1862,  Major  Mosby  was  sent  from  Hanover  Court- 
house on  a  mission  to  General  Jackson,  who  was  then  on  the  upper  Rapidan, 
He  was  the  bearer  of  an  oral  communication,  and  as  the  route  was  dangerous, 
had  no  papers  about  him  except  a  brief  note  to  serve  as  a  voucher  of  his  iden- 
tity and  reliability.  With  this  note  the  major  proceeded  on  his  journey,  and 
stopping  at  Beaver  Dam  station,  on  the  Virginia  Central  llailroad,  to  rest  and 
feed  his  horse,  was,  while  quietly  sitting  on  the  platform  at  the  depot,  surprised 
and  bagged  by  a  detachment  of  the  enemy's  cavalry. 

Now,  to  be  caught  thus  napping,  in  an  unguarded  moment,  was  gall  and 
wormwood  to  the  brave  major.  He  had  deceived  and  outwitted  the  enemy  so 
often,  had  escaped  from  their  clutches  so  regularly  up  to'that  time,  that  to  find 
himself  surprised  thus,  filled  him  with  internal  rage.  From  that  moment  his 
sentiments  toward  the  enemy  increased  in  intensity.  They  had  been  all  along 
decidedly  unfriendly — they  were  now  bitter.  They  took  him  away  with  them, 
searched  him,  and  filched  his  credentials,  and  published  them  as  an  item  of 
interest  in  the   Northern  papers,  and  immured  the  partisan  in  the  Old  Capitol. 

In  due  course  of  time  he  was  exchanged.  He  returned  with  a  handsome 
new  satchel  and  an  increased  affection  for  the  Yankees.  He  laughed  at  his 
misfortunes,  but  set  down  the  account  to  the  credit  of  the  enemy,  to  be  settled 
at  a  more  convenient  opportunity. 

One  of  the  most  daring  exploits  of  this  gallant  partisan  is  thus  graphically 
described  by  the  army  correspondent  of  the  "  Illustrated  News  :" 

Previous  to  the  8th  of  March,  Major  Mosby  had  put  himself  to  much  trouble 
to  discover  the  strength  and  positions  of  the  enemy  in  Fairfax  county,  with  the 
design  of  making  a  raid  in  that  direction,  if  circumstances  permitted.  The 
information  brought  to  him  was  as  follows :  On  the  Little  River  turnpike,  at 
Oermantown,  a  mile  or  two  distant  from  Fairfax,  were  three  regiments  of  the 


THE  WAR  AND  ITS  HEROES.  37 

•enemy's  cavalry,  commanded  by  Colonel  Wyndhani.  acting  brigadier-general, 
•with  his  headquarters  at  the  court-house.  Within  a  few  hundred  yards  of 
the  town  were  two  infantry  regiments.  In  the  vicinity  of  Fairfax  station,  about 
two  miles  off,  an  infantry  brigade  was  encamped.  And  at  Centreville  there  was 
another  infantry  brigade,  with  cavalry  and  artillery. 

Thus  the  way  to  Fairfax  Court-house,  the  point  which  the  major  desired 
to  reach,  seemed  completely  blocked  up  with  troops  of  all  arms — infantry,  artil- 
lery and  cavalry.  If  he  attempted  to  approach  by  the  Little  River  turnpike, 
Colonel  Wyndham's  troopers  would  meet  him  full  in  front.  If  he  tried  the 
route  by  the  Warrenton  turnpike,  a  brigade  of  infantry,  with  cavalry  to  pursue 
and  artillery  to  thunder  at  him,  was  first  to  be  defeated.  If  he  glided  in  along 
the  railroad,  the  brigade  at  Fairfax  station  was  in  his  track. 

The  "situation"  would  have  appeared  desperate  to  almost  any  one,  however 
adventurous,  but  danger-  and  adventure  had  attractions  for  Major  Mosby.  If 
the  peril  was  great  and  the  probability  of  success  slender,  all  the  greater  would 
be  the  glory  if  he  succeeded.  And  the  temptation  was  great.  At  Fairfax 
Court-house,  the  general  headquarters  of  that  portion  of  the  army,  Brigadier- 
General  Stoughton  and  other  officers  of  high  rank  were  there  known  to  be, 
and  if  these  could  be  captured,  great  wr  uld  be  his  triumph,  and  horrible  the 
consequent  gnashing  of  teeth  among  the  enemy. 

In  spite  of  the  enormous  obstacles  which  presented  themselves  in  his  path, 
Major  Mosby  determined  to  undertake  no  less  an  enterprise  than  entering  the 
town,  seizing  the  officers  in  their  beds,  destroying  the  huge  quantities  of  public 
stores,  and  bearing  off  his  prisoners  in  triumph. 

The  night  of  Sunday,  March  8th,  was  chosen  as  favorable  to  the  expedition. 
The  weather  was  infamous,  the  night  as  dark  as  pitch,  and  it  was  raining 
steadily.  With  a  detachment  of  twenty-nine  men,  Major  Mosby  set  out  on 
his  raid. 

He  made  his  approach  from  the  direction  of  Aldie.  Proceeding  down  the 
Little  Paver  turnpike,  the  main  route  from  the  court-housv.-  to  the  mountains, 
he  reached  a  point  within  about  three  miles  of  Chantilly.  Here,  turning  to  the 
right,  he  crossed  the  Frying  Pan  road,  about  half-way  between  Centreville  and 
the  turnpike,  keeping  in  the  woods,  and  leaving  Centreville  well  to  the  right. 
He  was  now  advancing  in  the  triangle  which  is  made  by  the  Little  River  and 
Warrenton  turnpikes  and  the  Frying  Pan  road.  Those  who  are  familiar  with 
the  country  there  will  easily  understand  the  object  of  this  proceeding.  By 
thus  cutting  through  the  triangle,  Major  Mosby  avoided  all  pickets,  scouting 
parties,  and  the  enemy  generally,  who  would  only  keep  a  look  out  for  intruders 
on  the  main  roads. 

Advancing  in  this  manner  through  the  woods,  pierced  with  devious  and 
uncertain  paths  only,  which  the  dense  darkness  scarcely  enabled  them  to  follow, 
the  partisan  and  his  little  band  finally  struck  into  the  Warrenton  road,  between 
Centreville  and  Fairfax,  at  a  point  about  mid-way  between  the  two  places.  One 
danger  had  thus  been  successfully  avoided — a  challenge  from  parties  of  cavalry 


38  THE  WAR  AND  ITS  HEROES. 

on  the  Little  River  road,  or  discovery  by  the  force  posted  at  Centreville.  That 
place  was  now  in  their  rear;  they  had  "  snaked  "  around  it  and  its  warders; 
but  the  perils  of  the  enterprise  had  scarcely  commenced.  Fairfax  Court-httuse 
was  still  about  four  miles  distant,  and  it  was  girdled  with  cavalry  and  infantry. 
Every  approach  was  guarded,  and  the  attempt  to  enter  the  place  seemed  des- 
perate, but  tbe  major  determined  to  essay  it. 

Advancing  resolutely,  he  came  within  a  mile  and  a  half  of  the  place,  when  he 
found  the  way  barred  by  a  heavy  force.  Directly  in  his  path  were  the  infantry 
camps,  of  which  he  had  been  notified,  and  all  advance  was  checked  in  that 
direction.  The  major  did  not  waver  in  his  purpose,  however.  Making  a 
detour  to  the  right,  and  leaving  the  enemy's  camps  far  to  his  left,  he  struck 
into  the  road  leading  from  Fairfax  southward  to  the  railroad. 

This  avenue  was  guarded  like  the  rest,  but  by  a  picket  only;  and  Mosby 
knew  thoroughly  how  to  deal  with  pickets.  Before  the  sleepy  and  unsuspicious 
Yankees  were  aware  of  their  danger,  they  found  pistols  presented  at  their  heads, 
with  the  option  of  surrender  or  death  presented  to  them.  They  surrendered 
immediately,  were  taken  in  charge,  and,  without  further  ceremony,  Major  Mosby 
and  his  band  entered  the  town. 

From  that  moment  the  utmost  silence,  energy  and  rapidity  of  action  were 
requisite.  The  major  had  designed  reaching  the  court-house  at  midnight, 
but  had  been  delayed  two  hours  by  mistaking  the  road  in  the  pitch  darkness. 
It  was  now  two  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  an  hour  and  a  half,  at  the  very 
utmost,  was  left  him  to  finish  his  business  and  escape  before  daylight.  If 
morning  found  him  anywhere  in  that  vicinity,  he  knew  that  his  retreat  would  be 
cut  off,  and  the  whole  party  killed  or  captured,  and  this  would  have  spoiled  the 
whole  fun  of  the  affair.  He  accordingly  made  his  dispositions  rapidly,  enjoined 
complete  silence,  and  set  to  work  in  earnest.  The  small  band  was  divided 
into  detachments,  with  special  duties  assigned  to  each.  Two  or  three  of  these 
detachments  were  sent  to  the  public  stables  where  the  fine  horses  of  the  general 
and  his  staff  officers  occupied,  with  instructions  to  carry  them  off  without  noise. 
Another  party  was  sent  to  Colonel  Wyndham's  headquarters  to  take  him  prisoner. 
Another  to  Colonel  Johnson's,  with  similar  orders. 

Taking  six  men  with  him,  Major  Mosby,  who  proceeded  upon  sure  informa- 
tion, went  straight  to  the  headquarters  of  Brigadier-General  Stoughton.  This 
worthy  was  a  Vermonter,  and  a  terrific  son  of  Mars;  a  graduate  of  West  Point, 
and  a  suppress-the-rebellion-in-ninety-days'  man.  He  had  just  been  assigned 
to  the  command  of  the  post,  and  much  was  expected  from  a  brigadier  of  such 
ardor  and  zeal  in  the  service. 

Alas  !  how  little  control  have  we  over  our  own  fates — a  moral  observation 
which  the  present  narrative  powerfully  enforces  : 

"  'Twas  midnight,  in  his  guarded  tent 
The  Turk  was  dreaming  of  the  hour 
When  Greece,  her  knee  in  suppliance  bent, 
Should  tremble  at  his  power." 


THE  WAR  AND  ITS  HEROES.  39 

And,  lo!  the  brigadier  was  even  then  in  the  power  of  that  Marco  Bozzaris, 
Major  Mosby.  "  Stoughton's  Bitters "  came  in  the  shape  of  a  Confederate 
partisan ! 

The  major  entered  his  chamber  without  much  ceremony,  and  found  him 
reposing  in  all  the  dignity  and  grandeur  of  a  brigadier-general  commanding, 
whose  person  and  slumbers  are  sacred.  Making  his  way  toward  the  bed,  in  the 
dark,  the  partisan  shook  him  suddenly  by  the  shoulder. 

"  Who  is  that  ?  "  growled  the  sleepy  brigadier. 

"  Get  up  quick,  I  want  you,"  responded  the  major. 

"Do  you  know  who  I  am,"  cried  the  brigadier,  sitting  up  in  bed,  with  a 
scowl.     "  I  will  have  you  arrested,  sir." 

"Do  you  know  who  /am?"  retorted  the  major,  shortly. 

"  Who  are  you?" 

"  Did  you  ever  hear  of  Mosby?" 

"  Yes  !     Tell  me,  have  you  caught  the rascal ! " 

"  No;  but  he  has  caught  you  !"     And  the  major  chuckled. 

"  What  does  all  this  mean,  sir?"  cried  the  furious  brigadier. 

"It  means,  sir,"  the  major  replied,  very  coolly,  "that  Stuart's  cavalry  are 
in  possession  of  this  place,  and  you  are  my  prisoner.  Get  up  and  come  along, 
or  you  are  a  dead  man  ! " 

The  brigadier  groaned  in  anguish  of  soul,  but  was  compelled  to  obey,  and 
the  partisan  mounted,  and  placed  him  under  guard.  His  staff  and  escort  were 
captured  without  difficulty,  but  two  of  the  former,  owing  to  the  darkness  and 
confusion,  subsequently  made  their  escape. 

Meanwhile  the  other  detachments  were  at  work.  They  entered  the  stables, 
and  led  out  fifty-eight  horses,  with  their  accoutrements,  all  belonging  to  officers, 
and  took  a  number  of  prisoners.  Hundreds  of  horses  were  left,  for  fear  of 
encumbering  the  retreat. 

The  other  parties  were  less  successful.  Colonel  Wyndham  had  gone  to 
Washington  on  the  preceding  day;  but  his  acting  adjutant-general  and  aide- 
de-camp  were  made  prisoners.  Colonel  Johnson,  having  received  notice  (if  ihe 
presence  of  the  party,  succeeded  in  making  his  escape. 

It  was  now  about  half-past  three  in  the  morning,  and  it  behooved  Major 
Mosby,  unless  he  relished  being  killed  or  captured,  to  effecf  his  retreat.  Time 
was  barely  left  him  to  get  out  of  the  lines  of  the  enemy  before  daylight,  and 
none  was  to  be  lost. 

He  had  intended  to  destroy  the  valuable  quartermaster,  commissary  and 
sutler's  stores  in  the  place,  but  these  were  found  to  be  in  the  houses  which 
it  would  have  been  necessary  to  burn ;  and,  even  had  the  proceeding  been 
advisable,  time  was  wanting.  The  band  was  encumbered  by  three  times  as 
many  horses  and  prisoners  as  it  numbered  men,  and  day  was  approaching.  The 
major  accordingly  made  his  dispositions  rapidly  for  retiring. 

The  prisoners,  thirty  five  in  number,  were  as  follows :  Brigadier-General  E. 
H.  Stoughton ;    Baron    R.   Wordener,  an  Austrian,  aide-de-camp  to  Colonel 


40  tup:  war  and  its  heroes. 

Wyndham;  Captain  A.  Barker,  5th  New  York  Cavalry;  Colonel  Wyndham's 
acting  adjutant-general;  thirty  prisoners,  chiefly  of  the  18th  Pennsylvania  and 
1st  Ohio  Cavalry,  and  the  telegraph  operator  at  the  place.  These  were  placed 
upon  the  captured  horses,  and  the  band  set  out  in  silence  on  their  return. 

Major  Mosby  took  the  same  road  which'  had  conducted  him  into  the  court- 
house— that  which  led  to  Fairfax  station.  But  this  was  only  to  deceive  the 
enemy  as  to  his  line  of  retreat,  if  they  attempted  pursuit.  He  soon  turned  off, 
and  pursued  th«  same  road  which  he  hud  followed  in  advancing,  coining  out  ou 
the  Warrenton  turnpike,  about  a  mile  and  a  half  from  the  town.  This  time, 
finding  no  guards  on  the  main  road,  he  continued  to  follow  the  turnpike  until 
he  came  to  the  bo-It  of  woods,  which  crosses  the  road,  about  half  a  mile  from 
Centreville.  At  this  point  of  the  march,  one  of  the  prisoners,  Captain  Barker, 
no  doubt  counting  on  aid  from  the  garrison,  made  a  desperate  effort  to  effect  his 
escape.  He  broke  from  the  guards,  dashed  out  of  the  ranks,  and  tried  hard 
to  reach  the  fort.  He  was  stopped,  however,  by  a  shot  from  one  of  the  party, 
which  came  so  near  him  that  he  thought  it  advisable  not  to  risk  a  repetition  of 
it.     He  accordingly  came  back  and  gave  himself  up  again  to  his  enemies. 

Again  turning  to  the  right,  the  major  proceeded  on  his  way,  passing  directly 
beneath  the  frowning  fortifications.  He  passed  so  near  them  that  he  distinctly 
saw  the  bristling  muzzles  of  the  cannon  iu  the  embrazures,  and  was  challenged 
by  the  sentinel  on  the  redoubt.  Making  no  reply,  he  pushed  on  rapidly — for 
the  day  was  dawning  and  no  time  was  to  be  lost — passed  within  a  hundred  yards 
of  the  infantry  pickets  without  molestation,  swam  Cub  Run,  and  again  came 
out  on  the  Warrenton  turnpike  at  Groveton.  He  had  passed  through  all  his 
enemies,  flanked  Centreville,  wa.s  on  the  open  road  to  the  South;  he  was  safe  j 
He  had  penetrated  to  the  very  heart  of  the  enemy's  position;  glided  through 
their  camps;  captured  their  pickets;  seized  their  officers  iu  bed;  borne  off  their 
horses;  laughed  at,  and  befooled,  aud  outwitted  them  completely;  and  had  not 
lost  a  man  in  the  interprise  ! 

The  exploits  of  Major  Mosby  would  furnish  material  for  a  volume  which 
would  resemble  rather  a  romance  than  a  true  statement  of  actual  occurrences. 
He  has  been  the  chief  actor  in  so  many  raids,  encounters  and  adventures,  that 
his  memoirs,  if  he  committed  them  to  paper,  would  be  regarded  as  the  efforts 
of  his  fancy. 

The  same  correspondent  gives  the  annexed  pen-and-ink  sketch  of  the  gallant 
major:  His  figure  is  slight,  muscular,  supple  and  vigorous;  his  eye  is  keen, 
penetrating,  ever  on  the  alert;  he  wears  his  sabre  and  pistol  with  the  air  of 
a  man  who  sleeps  with  them  buckled  around  his  waist,  and  handles  them 
habitually,  almost  unconsciously.  The  major  is  a  determined  man  in  a  charge, 
dangerous  on  a  scout,  hard  to  outwit,  and  prone  to  "turn  up"  suddenly  where 
he  is  least  expected,  and  bang  away  with  pistol  and  carbine. 


MAJOR-GENERAL    WADE    HAMPTON. 


MAJOR-GENERAL  WADE  HAMPTON 


Major-General  Wade  Hampton  was  born  in  the  city  of  Charleston,  South 
Carolina,  in  the  year  1818.  His  father,  Colonel  Wade  Hampton,  was  a  dis- 
tinguished officer  in  the  war  of  1812  and  an  aide-de-camp  to  General  Jackson 
at  the  battle  of  New  Orleans.  He  was  an  eminent  and  esteemed  citizen  of 
South  Carolina,  distinguished  as  an  enlightened  and  liberal  agriculturist,  and 
greatly  respected  for  his  elevated  and  pure  character  as  a  man. 

The  mother  of  the  subject  of  our  sketch  was  Miss  Anne  Fitz  Simmons, 
daughter  of  Christopher  Fitz  Simmons,  for  many  years  a  merchant  of  Charles- 
ton city.  His  grandfather  was  General  Wade  Hampton,  a  distinguished  officer 
of  the  Revolution,  and  for  a  number  of  years  a  prominent  citizen  of  South 
Carolina. 

The  present  General  Hampton,  who,  it  will  be  seen,  descended  from  a  long 
line  of  military  heroes,  received  his  education  at  the  South  Carolina  College, 
where  he  graduated,  with  much  distinction,  at  a  very  early  age.  While  yet 
quite  a  young  man,  he  was  married  to  the  youngest  daughter  of  General 
Francis  Preston,  of  Virginia,  by  which  union  he  had  three  children — two  of 
them  gallant  young  officers  in  the  Confederate  army,  and  worthy  the  military 
name  which  they  bear.  The  present  wife  of  General  Hampton  is  the  only 
daughter  of  Governor  McDuffie,  of  South  Carolina. 

Previous  to' the  present  war,  General  Hampton  devoted  his  time  and  atten- 
tion almost  exclusively  to  planting,  and  with  much  success.  He  has,  however, 
served  in  both  branches  of  the  South  Carolina  Legislature,  and  gave  evidence 
of  intellectual  qualities  which  promised  high  distinction.  His  argument  against 
the  opening  of  the  African  slave  trade  was  spoken  of  as  a  master-piece  of  elegant 
and  statesmanlike  logic,  dictated  by  the  noblest  sentiments  of  the  Christian  and 
patriot.  # 

At  the  commencement  of  hostilities  between  the  North  and  the  South, 
General  Hampton,  under  authority  of  the  President,  raised  a  splendid  legion, 
and,  with  profuse  and  characteristic  liberality,  contributed  largely  towards 
equipping  it.  The  legion  was  marched  to  Virginia  in  time  to  take  an  active 
and  efficient  part  in  the  first  battle  of  Manassas.  General  Hampton  was- 
wounded  in  the  head,  during  this  battle,  while  gallantly  leading  his  command 
into  action.  f 

Throughout  all  the  subsequent  campaigns  in  Virginia,  he  took  a  prominent 
past,  receiving  a  severe  wound  at  Seven   Pines.     After  the  batttles  around 


44  THE  WAR  AND  ITS  HEROES. 

Hichniond,  .he  was  promoted  to  the  position  of  brigadier-general  of  cavalry 
•under  Major-General  J.  E.  B.  Stuart,  in  which  position  he  has  been  untiring, 
and  has  attracted  the  attention  of  the  entire  Confederacy.  He  has  since  had 
the  rank  of  major-general  conferred  upon  him  by  the  President. 

In  the  desperate  fight  at  Gettysburg,  General  Hampton  received  three 
wounds — one  in  the  hip  from  a  shrapnel  and  two  sabre  cuts  in  the  head — all 
severe,  but,  fortunately  for  his  country,  not  fatal. 

General  Hampton's  family  residence  is  in  Columbia,  South  Carolina,  and  is 
known  by  all  Southerners  as  the  abode  of  true  Southern  hospitality,  and  as  one 
of  the  handsomest  places  in  the  entire  South. 


SIAJOR-GENETIAL    GUSTAVUS    WOODSON    SMITH. 


MA  J.  GEN.  GUSTAVUS  WOODSON  SMITH, 


General  Gustavus  "Woodson  Smith  was  born  on  the  1st  day  of  January,  1822, 
near  Georgetown,  Scott  county,  Kentucky.  His  parents  were  both  natives  of 
the  same  county.  His  grand-parents — paternal  and  maternal — removed  from 
Eastern  Virginia  to  Kentucky  in  the  time  of  Daniel  Boone,  whilst  the  red  men 
still  disputed  with  the  whites  for  possession  of  their  favorite  hunting-ground — 
the  far-famed  "  Blue  Grass  District."  He  is  by  lineage,  education  and  habits 
a  thorough  Kentuckian. 

Through  the  influence  of  Colonel  Rjchard  M.  Johnson,  then  Vice  President 
of  the  United  States,  who  was  the  close  neighbor  and  life-long  personal  and 
political  friend  of  Bodes  Smith,  the  paternal  grandfather  of  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  Gustavus  W.  Smith  was  appointed  a  cadet,  and  entered  the  United 
States  Military  Academy  in  1838.,  and,  at  the  end  of  six  months,  had  established 
a  reputation  for  ability  of  no  ordinary  character,  and  was  placed  first  iu  mathe- 
matics in  a  class  reported  to  be  equal,  if  not  superior,  to  any  ever  graduated  at 
West  Point. 

On  leaving  the  Military  Academy  in  1842,  he  was  appointed  a  lieutenant  in 
the  United  States  Corps  of  Engineers.  In  1846,  although  still  a  second  lieu- 
tenant and  low  on  the  list,  because  of  the  slow  promotion  in  that  celebrated 
corps,  he  was  selected  by  the  chief  engineer  and  ordered  upon  duty  as  senior 
lieutenant  of  the  company  of  "  sappers  and  miners,"  or  engineer  soldiers,  then 
being  recruited  and  organized. 

Soon  after  reaching  Mexico,  in  October,  1846,  the  captain  of  the  company 
was  taken  sick,  and  died  in  New  Orleans,  on  his  way  to  his  home.  Second 
Lieutenant  Smith,  as  senior  officer,  assumed  command  of  the  company,  and 
retained  it  to  the  end  of  the  war.  The  other  officers  of  the  company  were 
Brevet  Second  Lieutenants  George  B.  McClellan  and  John  G.  Foster. 

This  company  and  its  officers  had  an  active  and  leading  part  in  all  the  opera- 
tions of  the  army,  in  marches,  reconnoisances,  sieges  and  battles — Vera  Cruz, 
Cerro  Gordo,  Contreras,  Gherubusco,  Chepultapec,  and  the  city  of  Mexico. 

In  the  city  of  Mexico,  Lieutenant  Smith,  at  the  age  of  twenty-five,  was,  by 
the  Commander-in-Chief,  General  Scott,  officially  announced  as  being  "'more 
often  and  more  highly  distinguished  than  any  young  officer  he  had  ever  known." 
For  "signal  and  distinguished  services"  he  received  two  brevets — one  at  Cerro 
Gordo  and  one  at  Contreras.  He  was  recommended  more  highly  and  performed 
more  important  services,  both  at  Vera  Cruz  and  the  city  of  Mexico,  but  the 


48  TEE  WAR  AND  ITS  HEROES. 

arbitrary  and  ucjust  rule  had  been  laid  down,  and  was  rigidly  adhered  to,  that 
no  found  lieutenants  should  receive  more  than  two  brevets. 

Many  of  Lieutenant  Smith's  former  juniors,  who  belonged  to  corps  in  which 
promotion  was  more  rapid  than  in  that  of  the  engineers,  had  reached  the  grade 
of  first  lieutenant,  and,  by  receiving  two  brevets  upon  that  grade,  were  made 
majors;  but  none  of  these,  it  is  believed,  had  a  separate  command. 

In  1849,  Lieutenant  Smith  was  appointed  principal  assistant  professor  of 
engineering  and  the  art  of  war  at  West  Point  Military  Academy,  with  the  rank 
of  captain,  and  continued  to  fill  that  position  until  the  18th  of  December,  1854, 
at  which  time  he  resigned  from  the  army  of  the  United  States. 

In  February,  1855,  he  went  to  New  Orleans,  and  in  October,  1856,  removed 
from  that  place  to  the  city  of  New  York. 

Captain  Gustavus  W.  Smith,  as  he  was  still  called,  won  for  himself  in  civil 
life  a  reputation  fully  equal  to  that  which  he  had  previously  established  in  the 
army.  His  administration  for  three  years  of  the  highly  responsible  position 
confided  to  him  in  the  city  of  New  York  is  regarded  by  the  ablest  and  best 
men  of  that  city  as  unequalled  for  ability  and  sterling  integrity,  and  wrung 
even  from  his  political  foes  a  mead  of  praise  of  which  any  man  might  well  feel 
proud. 

From  his  connexions  and  political  opinions,  no  one  doubted  which  side  Cap- 
tain Smith  would  espouse.  Time  passed  on.  Fort  Sumter  was  bombarded,  the 
battle  of  Manassas  fought,  Kentucky  was  still  in  the  old  Union,  and  Captain 
Smith  was  yet  in  New  York  He  reached  Kentucky  early  in  August,  1861, 
and  his  Southern  friends  then  learned  that  he  had  been  suddenly  stricken 
down  by  disease  in  New  York  city  just  two  weeks  before  the  bombardment  of 
Fort  Sumter — had  been  confined  to  his  room  for  nearly  three  months,  and  so 
soon  as  he  was  able  to  travel,  had  proceeded  to  his  old  home  in  Kentucky, 
where  he  hoped  to  recuperate  his  shattered  strength  and  health. 

When  the  Kentucky  Legislature,  in  the  winter  of  1861,  by  an  almost  unan- 
imous vote,  declared  that  the  seceded  States  should  not  be  coerced  into  the 
Union,  it  was  understood  in  Kentucky  that  Captain  Smith  was  the  chosen 
military  leader  of  that  State.  On  arriving  at  home,  he  found  that  a  majority 
of  the  people  of  Kentucky  had  been  deceived  and  betrayed,  and  immediately 
determined  not  to  be  enchained  with  her  even  temporarily  under  the  rule  of  the 
Yankees.  He  therefore  left  Kentucky,  and,  on  reaching  Nashville,  offered  his 
services  to  the  President  of  the  Confederate  States,  stating  that  he  had  left  the 
North  and  come  back  to  the  South  with  the  intention  of  sharing  her  destiny. 
In  a  few  days  afterwards  he  proceeded  to  Puchmond,.and,  without  application 
on  his  part,  upon  the  recommendations  of  Generals  A.  S.  Johnston,  Joseph  E. 
Johnston,  and  Beauregard,  was  by  the  President  appointed  a  major-general. 

As  commander  of  the  second  corps  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  whilst 
Beauregard  commanded  the  first,  and  Joseph  E.  Johnston  the  army — as  com- 
mander of  the  left  wing  of  Johnston's  army  in  the  celebrated  retreat  from 
Centrevilk,  and  of  the  rear-guard  and  left  wing  from  Yorktown  in    retiring 


THE  WAR  AXD  ITS  HEROES.  .£$ 

upon  Richmond — his  services  upon  the  battle-field  of  "  Seven  Pines,"  where 
he  had  no  special  command  until  after  General  Johnston  was  wounded — Ua 
conduct  as  commander  of  Johnston's  army  from  the  time  the  latter  was  wounded 
until  General  Lee  was  ordered  to  take  command  of  that  army — his  services  as 
commander  of  Richmond  and  its  defences,  including  the  country  from  Wil- 
mington to  Winchester — his  services  in  North  Carolina  during  the  two  threat- 
ened advances  of  the  enemy  in  December,  1862,  and  the  following  January 
cannot  and  will  not  be  forgotten  by  the  army  or  the  people. 

In  the  early  part  of  1863,  owing  to  some  misunderstanding  between  himself 
and  the  President,  General  Smith  resigned. 

Immediately  after  his  resignation  was  accepted,  such  was  his  patriotic  desire 
to  aid  all  in  his  power  in  our  great  struggle  that  he  offered  his  services  to 
General  Beauregard  as  volunteer  aid  in  the  then  expected  attack  on  Charleston, 
in  any  capacity  in  which  he  could  for  the  time  being  be  made  useful  This 
offer  was  accepted,  and  he  was  with  General  Beauregard  in  the  gallant  defence 
of  that  city  in  April,  1863. 

He  now  occupies  the  position  as  President  of  the  Georgia  Manufacturing  and 
Mining  Company  at  Etowah,  Georgia ;  but  we  understand  accepted  this  lucra- 
tive and  responsible  position  with  the  distinct  understanding  that  if  ever  his 
services  are  needed,  or  can  be  made  available  in  defence  of  the  State  of  Geor- 
gia, his  present  residence,  or  if  when  the  great  struggle  is  made  by  Kentuckians 
for  Kentucky,  which  he  believes  is  sure  to  come,  that  he  must  be  relieved  of 
the  responsibilities  of  President,  and  receive  his  orders  from  the  Governors  of 
either  of  these  States,  to  both  of  whom  he  has  already  pledged  his  services. 


LIEUT.   GEN.  JAMES   LONGSTREET. 


The  name  of  no  officer  in  the  Confederate  service  has  become  more  familiar 
to  the  general  reader  than  that  of  Lieutenant-General  James  Longstreet.  The 
number  of  important  conflicts  in  which  he  has  been  engaged  since  the  first 
shock  of  arms  at  Manassas,  and  the  ability  and  gallantry  he  has  displayed  in 
each,  has  won  for  him  a  proud  position  in  the  front  rank  of  distinguished 
Confederate  officers. 

James  Longstreet  was  born  in  the  State  of  South  Carolina,  and  is  about  forty- 
three  years  of  age.  For  many  years  past  he  has  been  a  citizen  of  Alabama. 
He  entered  the  Military  Academy  at  West  Point  in  1838,  as  a  cadet  from 
South  Carolina,  and  graduated  in  the  class  of  1842,  so  celebrated  for  the 
number  of  its  distinguished  members.  Longstreet's  grade  was  number  fifty- 
four  in  the  class,  which  contained  about  sixty  members.  Among  his  classmates 
we  notice  the  names  of  Pope  and  Rosecranz  of  the  Federal  army,  and  D.  H. 
Ilill,  Lovell,  G.  W.  Smith,  Van  Dorn,  M.  L.  Smith,  Rains,  McLaws  and  R.  H. 
Anderson  of  the  Confederate  army.  We  venture  the  assertion  that,  notwith- 
standing the  low  grade  of  Longstreet  in  his  class,  there  is  not  one  of  the  above- 
named  officers  who  would  not  willingly  exchange  reputations  with  James  Long- 
street,  who  has  justly  won  the  title  of  "the  hard  fighter.'' 

On  the  1st  of  July,  1812,  General  Longstreet  took  his  position  in  the  United 
States  army,  as  a  brevet  second  lieutenant  of  the  Fourth  Regiment  of  Infantry, 
in  which  he  served  until  March,  1845,  when  he  was  transferred  to  the  Eighth 
Regiment.  He  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  first  lieutenant  in  February,  1847, 
having  previously  been  distinguished  in  the  battle  of  Monterey.  From  June, 
1847,  to  July,  1849,  he  served  as  adjutant  to  his  regiment.  He  was  breveted 
captain  for  "  gallant  and  meritorious  conduct "  in  the  battles  of  Contreras  and 
CherubuscOj  August  20th,  1847,  and  major  for  "gallantry"  in  the  battle  of 
El  Molino  del  Rey,  September  8th,  1847.  He  was  highly  distinguished  and 
severely  wounded  in  the  assault  on  Chapultepec,  September  13th,  1847.  It 
will  thus  be  seen  that  the  career  of  Lieutenant  Longstreet,  in  the  Mexican  war, 
was  one  of  uncommon  brilliancy,  and  that  he  came  out  of  the  war  with  an 
established  reputation  for  courage  and  ability  at  the  early  age  of  twenty-seven. 
He  became  a  captain  in  December,  1852,  and  paymaster,  with  the  rank  of 
major,  in  July,  1858. 

General  Longstreet  was  first  brought  prominently  before  the  Southern  public 
at  the  battle  of  Bull  Run,  on  the  18th  of  July,  1861,  where  he  commanded, 


LIEUTKNANT-0ENB8AL   JAMBjS    LONGSTRBST 


THE  WAR  AND  ITS  HEROES.  53 

and  subsequently  at  the  battle  of  Manassas,  July  21st,  1861,  in  which  he 
commanded  a  brigade  under  General  Beauregard.  He  was  afterwards  made  a 
major-general  under  General  Joseph  E.  Johnston. 

After  the  battles  around  Richmond,  in  which  General  Longstreet  bore  a 
prominent  part,  he  was  made  lieutenant-general  under  General  Lee,  who 
assumed  command  of  the  army  after  the  battle  of  Seven  Pines,  General  John- 
ston having  been  wounded  in  that  engagement.  General  Longstreet  continued 
with  the  army  of  the  Potomac  until  after  the  battle  of  Gettysburg,  when  he  was 
transferred  to  the  command  of  a  separate  army,  which,  at  the  present  writing, 
(February,  1864,)  is  successfully  engaged  in  the  defence  of  East  Tennessee. 

As  a  "fighter"  General  Longstreet  stands  second  to  no  officer  in  the  army, 
and  it  is  said  that,  during  his  connection  with  the  army  of  the  Potomac,  General 
Lee  reposed  the  most  unbounded  confidence  in  his  coolness,  skill  and  courage. 

General  Longstreet  combines,  in  an  eminent  degree,  the  qualities  of  a  great 
soldier,  viz :  the  spirit  and  dash  to  storm  a  formidable  position ;  the  stubborn 
courage  and  cool  judgment  to  maintain  his  ground  against  superior  numbers, 
and  the  skill  and  ability  to  control  and  direct  an  army,  either  for  offeusive  or 
defensive  operations. 

General  Longstreet  is  about  six  feet  high,  weighs  at  least  two  hundred 
pounds,  and,  as  will  be  seen  by  his  portrait,  wears  a  heavy,  flowing  brown  beard. 
He  is  justly  regarded  as  one  of  the  finest  looking  men  in  the  army. 


LIEUT.  GEN.  AMBROSE  POWELL  HILL. 


Ambrose  Powell  Hill  was  born  in  Culpeper  county,  Virginia,  and  is  the  son 
of  Major  Hill,  who,  for  many  years,  was  a  leading  politician  aud  merchant  of 
that  county. 

The  subject  of  our  sketch  entered  West  Point,  as  a  cadet  from  his  native 
State,  in  1843,  and  graduated  on  the  3d  of  June,  1847.  On  the  1st  of  July, 
1847,  he  was  commissioned  brevet  second  lieutenant  First  Artillery,  and  on  the 
26th  of  August,  1847,  he  was  promoted  second  lieutenant. 

He  entered  the  Confederate  service  at  the  commencement  of  the  war,  as 
colonel  of  the  13th  Regiment  Virginia  Volunteers.  At  the  first  battle  of 
Manassas,  this  regiment,  with  the  remainder  of  General  Joseph  E.  Johnston's 
command,  arrived  on  the  field  just  in  time  to  insure  and  complete  the  great 
victory  of  that  memorable  day. 


THE  WAR  AND  ITS  HEROES.  55 

At  the  battle  of  Williamsburg  he  had  risen  to  tbe  rank  of  brigadier-general, 
and  in  that  fight  exhibited  an  extraordinary  spirit  and  energy,  which  was 
recognized  by  all  who  observed  his  behaviour  on  the  field. 

In  the  disposition  of  the  forces  around  Richmond  previous  to  the  seven  days 
fighting,  General  Hill,  who  had  now  been  made  a  major-general,  occupied  with 
his  division  the  extreme  left  of  our  position  in  the  neighborhood  of  Meadow 
Bridge.  He  was  placed  in  command  of  one  of  the  largest  divisions  of  the 
army,  composed  of  the  brigades  of  Anderson,  Branch,  Pender,  Gregg,  Field, 
and,  perhaps,  some  others,  which  he  rapidly  brought  to  perfection  in  organiza- 
tion.' It  was  made  his  duty  to  cross  at  Meadow  Bridge  and  make  the  first 
attack  upon  the  enemy's  forces.  Here  he  maintained  a  terrible  conflict  with 
the  enemy,  encouraging  his  troops  by  examples  of  personal  audacity,  which 
kept  him  constantly  exposed  to  the  enemy's  fire. 

That  position  of  the  enemy  being  gained,  the  division  of  General  Hill  followed 
his  subsequent  movements,  being  placed  first  on  the  line  of  our  advance  and 
bearing  the  brunt  of  the  action,  to  Frazer's  farm,  where  occurred  the  memorable 
engagement  in  which  his  command,  composed  of  his  own  and  one  division  of 
General  Longstreet's,  fonght  the  entire  Yankee  force,  and  achieved  a  success 
which  broke  the  spirit  of  the  invading  horde  and  completed  the  circuit  of  our 
victories. 

General  II ill,  with  his  battle-scarred,  veterans  has  borne  a  conspicuous  part; 
in  every  battle  fought  by  the  army  of  the  Potomac,  from  the  first  engagement 
at  Manassas  to  the  battle  of  Gettyshurg. 


LIEUT.  GEN.  RICHARD  S.  EWELL. 


Hichard  S.  Ewell  is  a  native  of  Prince  William  county,  Virginia.  We  hare 
3iot  been  able  to  ascertain  the  year  of  his  birth ;  but,  as  he  entered  the  Military 
Academy  of  West  Point  in  1836  and  graduated  in  1840,  we  presume  he  is 
somewhat  turned  of  forty.  He  was  appointed  second  lieutenant  of  cavalry  by 
brevet  on  the  1st  of  July,  1840,  and  full  second  lieutenant  the  November 
following.  On  the  18th  of  September,  1845,  he  was  made  first  lieutenant,  and, 
with  that  rank,  went  into  the  Mexican  war.  He  won  his  promotion  to  captain 
in  the  field,  having  received  it  for  " gallant  and  meritorious  conduct"  in  the 
battles  of  Contreras  and  Cherubusco. 

Captain  Ewell  was  among  the  first  to  cast  his  fortune  with  the  South  when 
his  native  State  seceded.  His  first  appearance  .was  at  Fairfax  CoUrt-house, 
when  a  party  of  cavalry  were  surprised  by  the  enemy,  and  Governor  Smith 
succeeded  in  rallying  them.  Ewell,  we  believe,  had  no  command;  but,  when 
the  alarm  took  place,  he  rushed  into  the  street,  in  the  very  midst  of  the  danger, 
and,  by  his  energetic  remonstrances  and  fearless  exposure  of  his  person,  con- 
tributed greatly  to  prevent  a  catastrophe.  With  the  rank  of  colonel,  we  next 
find  him  in  command  of  the  camp  of  instruction  for  cavalry  at  Ashland.  His 
services  here  were  invaluable  and  their  effect  has  been  felt  throughout  the  war. 
His  discipline  was  stern  and  rigid,  but  humane,  and,  out  of  raw  mounted 
militia,  he  soon  formed  a  most  efficient  body  of  troops.  At  the  first  battle  of 
Manassas,  Ewell,  now  a  brigadier,  was  stationed  with  his  cavalry  on  the  right. 
In  that  position,  he  was  detained  all  day,  without  participating  in  the  dangers 
and  glory  of  the  fight.  An  order  was  sent  to  him  to  advance  to  Centreville, 
and  fall  upon  the  flank  and  rear  of  the  enemy.  That  order  never  reached  him. 
Had  it  arrived  in  time,  the  consequence  would  have  been  the  capture  of  20,000 
men,  the  utter  destruction  of  the  Yankee  army,  and,  in  all  probability,  the 
eapture  of  Washington.  Soon  after  this  battle,  Ewell  was  made  a  major-general 
and  placed  in  command  of  a  division. 

Upon  Jackson's  retreat  after  the  battle  of  Kernstown,  Ewell  was  sent  to 
re-inforce  him.  The  two  great  soldiers  seemed  formed  to  act  together.  The 
utmost  cordiality  always  existed  between  them.  Each  was  too  noble,  too  brave, 
too  generous,  to  feel  the  slightest  jealousy  of  the  other.  Upon  all  occasions, 
Jackson  bore  testimony  to  the  invaluable  services  of  Ewell ;  and  Ewell,  in 
return,  always  expressed  the  highest  admiration  for  Jackson.  In  nearly  all  of 
Jackson's  battles  in  the  Valley,  Ewell  was  a  participant,  and  the  part  he  bore 


LIEUTENANT-GENERAL    RICHARD    S.    EWELL. 


THE  WAR  AND  ITS   HEROES.  59 

was  always  prominent.  At  Port  Republic,  Ewell  was  pitted  against  Fremont, 
He  routed  him  completely  and  clapped  an  extinguisher  upon  his  pretensions 
to  be  considered  a  soldier.  Since  that  time,  Fremont  has  been  continually 
sinking  in  the  estimation  of  the  Yankees,  and  has  now  at  last  found  his  level, 
as  the  chief  of  an  army  of  negroes. 

General  Ewell  was  in  all  the  battles  around  Richmond  in  which  Jackson's 
corps  was  engaged.  When  the  latter  was  ordered  to  the  Piedmont  country  to* 
chastise  the  miscreant  Pope,  Ewell  was  his  right-hand  man.  He  distinguished 
himself  greatly  in  tlie  battle  of  Cedar  mountain,  and  was  the  life  and  soul  of 
the  march  to  Manassas.  In  the  second  battle  of  that  name,  he  was  so  severely 
wounded  in  the  leg,  that  amputation  was  rendered  necessary.  He  bore  the 
operation  with  great  fortitude  and  even  cheerfulness.  As  soon  as  he  had 
sufficiently  recovered,  he  was  removed  to  Richmond,  where,  in  the  house  of  bis 
friend,  Dr.  Hancock,  who  had  been  his  surgeon  on  a  former  occasion,  he  lay 
several  months,  occasionally  suffering  great  pain.  Having  finally  recovered,  he 
was  made  a  lieutenant-general  and  placed  in  command  of  one-half  of  Jackson's  ■ 
old  corps,  out  of  whieh  two  had  been  fornfed,  General  A.  P.  Hill  commanding 
the  other.  It  is  said  that  JacksoB,  on  his  death-bed,  expressed  his  eareest 
desire  that  Ewell  might  be  his  successor.  That  he  was  correct  in  his  estimate 
of  Ewell's  capacity  for  command  has  been  rendered  sufficiently  evident.  The 
capture  of  Winchester  was  one  of  the  mo6t  magnificent  achievements  of  the 
war,  and  places  its  author,  at  once,  in  the  foremost  rank  of  our  genewds 


MAJOR  JOHN  PELHAM. 


The  "  gallant  Pelham,"  as  lie  was  styled  by  his  commanding  general,  was  a 
native  of  Alabama,  and  commauded  the  horse  artillery  attached  to  the  cavalry 
division  of  General  J.  E.  33.  Stuart.  He  entered  the  army  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  war  and  was  engaged  in  every  battle  fought  in  Virginia  from  the 
first  Manassas,  in  1861,  to  the  battle  of  Keysville,  March  17,  1863,  where  he 
fell  mortally  wounded,  with  the  battle-cry  on  his  lips  and  the  light  of  victory 
beaming  from  his  eye.  The  army  correspondent  of  the  "Illustrated  News" 
thus  notices  the  sad  event : 

On  the  morning  of  the  17th  of  March,  Averill's  Federal  cavalry,  three 
thousand  in  the  saddle,  crossed  the  Rappahannock  at  Kelly's  Ford  and  attacked 
about  eight  hundred  of  General  Fitzhugh  Lee's  command,  who  faced,  without 
shrinking,  these  great  odds,  and  fought  them  stubbornly,  at  every  point, 
throughout  the  entire  day. 


THE  WAR  AND  ITS  HEROES.  61 

When  the  sun  set  on  that  'tranquil  evening — pinking  slowly  down  behind  the 
quiet  forest,  unstirred  by  the  least  breath  of  wind — the  long  and  desperate 
struggle  was  decided.  The  enemy  was  retiring  "badly  hurt;"  and  General 
Stuart  added  in  his  dispatch,  "  We  are  after  hiin.  His  dead  men  and  horses 
strew  the  road." 

No  harder  battle  has  been  fought  during  the  entire  war;  and  never  have  the 
enemy  reeled  back  in  greater  confusion  before  the  Southern  steel  than  here. 
Our  heroes  won  the  day  by  hard  and  desperate  fighting,  in  charge  after  charge; 
but  lost  in  the  struggle  some  of  the  most  valiant  hearts  that  ever  beat.  Puller, 
Harris  and  Pelham  were  among  the  number — the  "gallant  Pelham"  of  the 
battle  of  Fredericksburg.  He  was  in  the  performance  of  his  duty  as  chief  of 
artillery,  and  was  riding  toward  his  general,  when  a  regiment  of  cavalry  swept 
by  him  in  a  charge.  He  was  waving  his  hat  aloft  and  cheering  them  on,  when 
a  ball  from  a  carbine  struck  him  on  the  head,  mortally  wounding  him.  He 
lingered  until  after  midnight,  on  the  morning  of  the  18th,  when  General  Stuart 
telegraphed  to  Mr.  Curry,  of  Alabama : 

u  The  noble,  the  chivalric,  the  gallant  Pelham  is  no  more.  He  was  killed  in 
action  yesterday.  His  remains  will  be  sent  to  you  to-day.  How  much  he  was 
beloved,  appreciated  and  admired,  let  the  tears  of  agony  we  have  shed,  and 
the  gloom  of  mourning  throughout  my  command,  bear  witness.  His  loss  is 
irreparable." 

The  body  of  the  young  officer  was  sent  to  Richmond — laid  in  state  in  the 
capitol  of  Virginia — and  we  are  told  that  "  some  tender  hand  deposited  an 
evergreen  wreath,  intertwined  with  white  flowers,  upon  the  case  that  contained 
all  that  was  mortal  of  the  fallen  hero."  His  family  received  the  soldier's 
remains;  they  were  taken  to  his  Southern  home;  Virginia,  the  field  of  his 
fame,  had  surrendered  him  to  Alabama,  the  land  of  his  birth. 

In  a  general  order  issued  on  the  occasion,  General  Stuart  said  : 

"To  you,  his  comrades,  it  is  needless  to  dwell  upon  what  you  have  so  often 
witnessed — his  prowess  in  action — already  proverbial.  You  well  know  how, 
though  young  in  years — a  mere  strippling  in  appearance — remarkable  for  his 
genuine  modesty  of  deportment — he  yet  disclosed  on  the  battle-fiold  the  conduct 
of  a  veteran,  and  displayed,  in  his  handsome  person,  the  most  imperturbable 
coolness  in  danger.  His  eye  had  glanced  over  every  battle-field  of  this  army, 
from  the  first  Manassas  to  the  moment  of  his  death,  and  he  was,  with  a  single 
exception,  a  brilliant  actor  in  all. 

"  The  memory  of  the  '  gallant  Pelham,'  his  many  virtues,  his  nobie- 
nature  and  purity  of  character,  is  enshrined  as  a  sacred  legacy  in  the  hearts  of 
all  who  knew  him.  His  record  has  been  bright  and  spotless;  his  career  brilliant 
and  successful.  He  fell — the  noblest  of  sacrifices — on  the  altar  of  his  country, 
to  whose  glorious  service  he  had  dedicated  his  life  from  the  beginning  of  the 
war. 

"In  token  of  respect  for  his  cherished  memory,  the  Horse  Artillery  and 
division  staff  will  wear  the  military  badge  of  mourning  for  thirty  days;  and  the 


Q%  THE  WAR  AND  ITS  HEROES. 

senior  officer  of  staff,  Major  Von  Borcke,  will  place  his  remains  in  the  posses- 
sion of  his  bereaved  family,  to  whom  is  tendered,  in  behalf  of  the  division,  the 
assurance  of  heartfelt  sympathy  in  this  deep  tribulation. 

"  In  mourning  his  departure  from  his  accustomed  post  of  honor  on  the  field, 
let  us  strive  to  imitate  his  virtues,  and  trust  that  what  is  loss  to  us,  may  be 
more  than  gain  to  him." 

When  killed,  Pelham  was  but  twenty-four  years  of  age,  but  he  had  made  for 
himself  a,  "  great  immortal  name." 

The  correspondent  of  the  "  Illustrated  News,"  above  alluded  to,  furnished 
that  paper  with  the  annexed  particulars  in  regard  to  his  short  but  brilliant 
career : 

A  son  of  the  great  State  of  Alabama,  and  descended  from  an  old  and  honorable 
family  there,  he  had  more  than  the  courage  of  his  race  and  clime.  He  chose 
arms  as  his  profession,  and  entered  "West  Point,  where  he  graduated  just  as  the 
war  commenced.  He  lost  no  time  in  offering  his  services  to  the  South,  and 
reoeived  the  appointment  of  first  lieutenant  in  the  Confederate  States  army. 
Proceeding  to  Harper's  Ferry,  when  General  Johnston  was  in  command  there, 
he  was  assigned  to  duty  as  drill-officer  of  artillery,  and  in  the  battle  of  Manassas 
commanded  a  battery,  which  he  fought  with  that  obstinate  and  daring  courage 
which  afterwards  rendered  him  so  famous.  He  speedily  attracted  the  attention 
of  the  other  generals  of  the  army,  and  General  J.  E.  B.  Stuart  entrusted  him 
with  the  organization  of  the  battalion  of  Horse  Artillery  which  he  subsequently 
commanded  in  nearly  every  battle  of  the  war  upon  Virginia  Soil.  Here  I  knew 
him  first. 

From  the  moment  when  he  took  command  of  that  now  famous  corps,  a  new 
system  of  artillery  fighting  seemed  to  be  inaugurated.  The  rapidity,  the  rush, 
the  impetus  of  the  cavalry  were  grafted  on  its  more  deliberate  brother.  Not 
once,  but  repeatedly,  has  the  Horse  Artillery  of  Pelham  given  chase  at  full 
speed  to  a  flying  enemy ;  and  far  in  advance  of  all  infantry  support,  unlimbered 
and  hurled  its  thunders  on  the  foe.  It  was  ever  at  the  point  where  the  line 
was  weakest;  and  however  headlong  the  charge  of  the  cavalry,  the  whirling 
gun.-j  were  beside  it,  all  ready  for  their  part.  "Trot,  march!"  had  yielded  to 
u  gallop ! "  with  the  battalion — it  was  rushed  into  position,  and  put  in  action  with 
a  rush ;  and  in  and  out  among  the  guns  where  the  bolts  fell  thickest  was  the 
brave  young  artillerist ;  cool  and  self-possessed,  but,  as  one  of  his  officers  said 
the  other  day,  "  as  gay  as  a  schoolboy  at  a  frolic."  He  loved  his  profession  for 
its  own  sake  purely ;  and  often  spoke  to  the  officers  above  alluded  to  of  the 
"jolly  good  fights"  he  would  have  in  the  present  campaign;  but  I  anticipate 
my  subject. 

Once  associated  with  the  command  of  General  Stuart,  he  secured  the  warm 
regard  and  unlimited  confidence  of  that  general,  who  employed  his  services  upon 
every  occasion.  Thenceforth  their  fortunes  seemed  united,  like  their  hearts ; 
and  the  name  of  the  young  man  became  noised  abroad  as  one  of  the  most  des- 
perate fighters  of  the  whole  army.     He  was  rightly  regarded  by  General  Jackson 


THE  WAR  AN'D  ITS  HEUOSS.  63 

and  others  as  possessed  of  a  very  extraordinary  genius  for  artillery;  and  when 
any  movement  of  unusual  importance  was  designed,  Pelham  was  assigned  to  the 
artillery  to  be  employed. 

His  career-  was  a  brief  one,  but  how  glorious !  How  crowded  with  great 
events  that  are  history  now.     Let  us  glance  at  it : 

"When  our  forces  fell  back  from  Manassas  in  1861,  his  batteries  had  their  part 
in  covering  the  movement,  and  guarding  the  fords  of  the  Rappahannock.  During 
the  campaign  of  the  Peninsula,  his  Blakely  was  as  a  sentinel  on  post  next  the 
enemy ;  and  at  the  battle  of  Williamsburg  his  courage  and  skill  transformed  raw 
militia  into  veterans.  In  the  seven  days'  battles  around  Richmond  he  won  fade- 
less laurels.  With  one  Napoleon,  he  engaged  three  heavy  batteries,  and  fought 
them  with  a  pertinacity  and  unfaltering  nerve  which  made  the  calm  face  of 
General  Jackson  glow  ;  and  the  pressure  of  that  heroic  hand,  warm  and  eloquent 
of  unspoken  admiration.  Soon  afterwards,  at  the  "  White  House,"  he  engaged 
a  gunboat,  and  driving  it  away,  after  a  brief  but  hot  encounter,  proved  how 
fanciful  were  the  terrors  of  these  u  monsters,"  as  they  were  then  called.  After 
that  work  in  the  Peninsula,  the  young  man  was  famous. 

His  greatest  achievements  were  to  come,  however;  and  he  hastened  to  record 
them  on  the  enduring  tablets  of  history.  From  the  moment  when  his  artillery 
advanced  from  the  Rappahannock,  to  the  time  when  it  returned  thither,  to  the 
day  of  Fredericksburg,  the  path  of  the  young  leader  was  deluged  with  the 
blood  of  battle.  At  Manassas  he  rushed  his  guns  into  the  very  columns  of  the 
enemy  almost ;  fighting  their  sharpshooters  with  canister,  amid  a  hurricane  of 
balls.  At  Sharpsburg  be  had  command  of  nearly  all  the  artillery  on  our  left, 
and  directed  it  with  the  hand  of  the  master.  When  the  army  crossed  back 
into  Virginia  he  was  posted  at  Sheppardstown,  and  guarded  the  ford  with  an 
obstinate  valor,  which  spoke  in  the  regular  and  unceasing  reverberation  of  his 
deep-mouthed  Napoleous,  a>  they  roared  on,  hour  after  hour,  driving  back  the 
enemy. 

Of  the  days  whieh  suceeeJed  that  exciting  period,  many  persons  will  long 
hold  the  memory.  It  was  in  an  honest  old  country  house,  whither  the  tide  of 
war  bore  him  for  a  time,  that  the  gay,  noble  nature  of  the  young  soldier  shone 
forth  in  all  its  charms.  There,  in  the  old  hall  on  the  banks  of  the  Opequon, 
surrounded  by  warm  hearts  who  reminded  him  perhaps  of  his  own  beloved  ones 
in  far  Alabama ;  there,  in  the  tranquil  days  of  Autumn,  in  that  beautiful  coun- 
try he  seemed  to  pass  some  of  his  happiest  hours.  All  were  charmed  with  his 
kind  temper  and  his  sunny  disposition — with  his  refinement,  his  courtesy,  his 
high  breeding  and  simplicity.  Modest  to  a  fault  almost — blushing  like  a  girl 
at  times — and  wholly  unassuming  in  his  entire  deportment — he  became  a  favorite 
with  all  around  him,  and  secured  that  regard  of  good  men  and  women  which  is 
the  proof  of  high  traits  and  fine  instincts  in  its  possessor.  In  the  beautiful 
Autumn  forests ;  by  the  stream  with  its  great  sycamores ;  and  under  the  tall 
oaks  of  the  lawn,  he  thus  wandered  for  a  time — an  exile  from  his  own  land  of 
Alabama,  but  loved,  admired  and  cherished  by  warm  hearts  in  this.     When 


(54  THE  WAR  AND  ITS  HEROES. 

he  left  the  haunts  of  the  old  "  bower  "  I  think  he  regretted  it.  But  work 
called  hhn. 

The  fiat  had  gone  forth  from  the  imperial  closet  at  Washington,  that  another 
"  On  to  Richmond "  should  be  attempted — and  where  the  vultures  of  war 
hovered,  there  was  the  post  of  duty  for  the  Horse  Artillery.  The  cavalry  crossed 
the  Blue  Ridge,  and  met  the  advancing  column  at  Aldie — and  Pelham  was 
again  in  his  element,  hurling  destruction  upon  the  ranks  of  General  Bayard. 
Thenceforward,  until  the  banks  of  the  Rappahannock  were  reached  by  the 
cavalry,  falling  back  in  order,  as  was  designed — from  that  instant  the  batteries 
of  the  Horse  Artillery  disputed  every  step  of  ground.  The  direction  of  the 
artillery  was  left  with  unhesitating  confidence  to  the  young  ofiicer ;  and  those 
who  witnessed,  during  that  arduous  movement,  the  masterly  handling  of  his 
guns,  can  tell  how  this  confidence  was  justified.  It  was  the  eye  of  the  great 
soldier,  the  hand  of  the  born  artillerist  which  was  evident  in  his  work,  during 
those  days  of  struggle.  He  fell  back  neither  too  soon  nor  too  late,  and  only 
limbered  up  his  guns  to  unlimber  again  in  the  first  position  which  he  reached. 
Thus  fighting  every  inch  of  the  way  from  Aldie,  round  by  Paris  and  Markham's, 
he  reached  the  Rappahannock,  and  posted  his  artillery  at  the  fords,  where  he 
stood  and  bade  the  enemy  defiance.  That  page  in  the  history  of  the  war  is 
scarcely  known;  but  those  who  were  present  know  the  obstinacy  of  the  contests, 
and  the  nerve  and  skill  which  were  displayed  by  the  young  ofiicer. 

That  may  be  unknown,  but  the  work  done  by  Pelham  on  the  great  day  of 
Fredericksburg  is  a  part  of  history  now.  All  know  how  stubbornly  he  stood  on 
that  day — what  laurels  encircled  his  young  brow  when  night  at  last  came.  This 
was  the  climax  of  his  fame — the  event  with  which  his  name  will  be  inseparably 
connected.  "With  one  Napoleon  gun,  he  opened  the  battle  on  the  right,  and 
instantly  drew  upon  himself  the  fire,  at  close  range,  of  four  batteries  in  front, 
and  a  heavy  enfilading  fire  from  30-pound  Parrots  across  the  river.  But  this  did 
not  daunt  him.  That  Napoleon  gun  was  the  same  which  he  had  used  at  the 
battle  of  Cold  Harbour — it  was  taken  from  the  enemy  at  Seven  Pines — and,  in 
the  hands  of  the  young  ofiicer  it  had  won  a  fame  which  must  not  be  tarnished 
by  defeat !  Its  grim  voice  must  roar,  however  great  the  odds ;  its  reverberating 
defiance  must  roll  over  the  plain,  until  the  bronze  war  dog  was  silenced.  So  it 
roared  on  steadily,  with  Pelham  beside  it,  blowing  up  caissons  and  continuing  to 
tear  the  enemy's  ranks.  General  Lee  was  watching  it  from  the  hill  above,  and 
exclaimed,  with  eyes  filled  with  admiration,  "  It  is  glorious  to  see  such  courage 
in  one  so  young ! "  It  was  glorious,  indeed,  to  see  that  one  gun,  placed  in  an 
important  position,  >>old  its  ground  with  a  firmness  so  unflinching  and  heroic — 
to  see  a  beardless  boy  sternly  standing  in  that  horrible  hurricane  of  shell,  with 
iron  resolution  and  a  soul  as  immovable  as  rock.  Not  until  his  last  round  of 
ammunition  was  shot  away  did  Pelham  retire,  and  then  only  after  a  peremptory 
order  sent  to  him.  He  afterwards  took  command  of  the  entire  artillery  on  the 
right,  and  fought  it  until  night  with  a  skill  and  courage  which  were  admirable. 
He  advanced  hie  guns  steadily,  and  at  nightfall  was  thundering  «n  the  flank  of 


THE  WAR  AND  ITS  HEROES.  65 

the  retreating  foe,  who  no  longer  replied.  No  answering  roar  cnrae  back  from 
those  batteries  he  had  fought  with  his  Xapoleon  so  loDg — he  had  triumphed- 
That  triumph  was  complete  and  placed  forever  upon  record,  when  the  great 
commander-in-chief,  whom  he  loved  and  admired  so  ardently,  gave  him  the 
name,  in  his  report,  of  the  "gallant  Pelhatn." 

Supreme  tribute  to  his  courage — immortalizing  him  in  history !  To  be  the 
sole  name  mentioned  in  all  that  host  of  heroes,  and  mentioned  as  the  "gallant 
Pel  ham  !" 

Thenceforward  there  was  little  for  him  to  desire.  He  had  never  cared  for 
rank,  only  longed  for  glory;  and  now  his  name  was  deathless.  It  is  true  that 
he  had  sometimes  said,  with  modest  and  noble  pride,  that  he  thought  it  some- 
what hard  to  be  considered  too  young  for  promotion,  when  they  gave  him  great 
commands — as  at  Sharpsburg  and  Fredericksburg — and  called  on  him  when 
the  hardest  work  was  to  be  done.  But  he  never  desired  a  mere  title  he  had 
not  won,  and  did  his  soldier's  duty  thoroughly,  trusting  to  time.  So  noble  and 
important,  however,  had  been  his  recent  services  that  promotion  was  a  matter 
of  course.  The  President  had  appointed  him  a  Lieutenant-Colonel,  and  it  only 
awaited  the  formal  confirmation  of  the  Senate  when  he  fell  on  the  Rappahan- 
nock. His  fall  was  a  public  calamity  to  the  nation,  but  none  to  him.  It  was 
fit  that  such  a  spirit  should  lay  down  his  great  work  before  the  hard  life  of  the 
world  had  dimmed  the  polish  of  the  good  knight's  spotless  shield.  He  wanted 
no  promotion  at  the  hands  of  men.  He  had  won,  if  not  worn,  the  highest 
honors  of  the  great  soldier;  and  having  finished  his  task,  the  gentle  spirit  took 
its  flight,  promoted  by  the  tender  hand  of  death  to  other  honors  in  a  brighter 
world. 

"With  what  obstinate  and  unyielding  courage  he  fought !  with  a  daring  how 
splendid,  how  rich  in  suggestion  of  the  antique  days  !  He  entered  upon  a 
battle  with  the  coolness  and  resolution  of  a  great  leader  trained  in  a  thousand 
combats,  and  fought  his  guns  with  the  fury  and  elan  of  Murat  at  the  head 
of  his  horsemen.  No  tract  of  the  ground,  no  movement  of  the  enemy,  ever 
escaped  his  eagle  eye.  With  an  inborn  geuius  for  war  which  West  Point  had 
merely  developed,  and  directed  in  its  proper  channels,  he  had  that  rapid  com- 
prehension— intuition  almost — which  counts  for  so  much  in  a  leader.  Where 
the  contest  was  the  hottest  and  the  pressure  heaviest,  there  was  Pelham  with 
his  guns  ;  and  the  broken  lines  of  infantry,  or  cavalry  giving  ground  before 
irresistible  numbers,  heard  their  deep  voices  roaring,  and  saw  the  ranks  of  the 
enemy  torn  and  scattered.  Often  he  waited  for  no  orders,  took  the  whole 
responsibility,  and  opened  his  batteries  where  he  saw  that  they  were  needed  by 
the  emergencies  of  the  moment.  But  what  he  did  was  always  the  very  best 
that  could  be  done.  He  struck  at  the  right  moment,  and  his  arm  was  heavy. 
Many  foes  had  felt  it,  and  the  knowledge  that  Pelham,  with  his  Horse  Artillery, 
was  in  front,  did  not  give  them  much  heart  for  the  encounter.  They  knew  that 
the  announcement  was  another  manner  of  informing  them  that  skill,  daring, 
stubborn  courage  was  to  be  dealt  with — that  wounds,  disaster  and  death  awaited 
5 


QQ  THE  WAR  AND  ITS  HEROES. 

them  from  the  hands  of  the  well-known  young  leader.  AVhat  terrified  the  foe 
was  the  guage  of  success  to  our  own  men.  The  roar  of  Pelham's  Napoleons 
was  a  welcome  sound.  When  the  deep-mouthed  thunder  of  those  guns  was 
heard,  the  faintest  took  heart,  and  the  contest  assumed  a  new  phase  to  all — for 
that  sound  had  proved  on  many  a  field  the  harbinger  of  victory.  At  Manassas, 
"Williamsburg,  Cold  Harbour,  Groveton,  Oxhill,  Sharpsburg,  Sheppardstown, 
Kearneysvillc,  Aldie,  Union,  Upperville,  Markham,  Barbee's,  Hazel  River  and 
Fredericksburg — at  these  and  many  other  places,  he  fought  his  Horse  Artillery, 
and  handled  it  with  heroic  contempt  of  danger !  One  day,  when  I  led 
him  to  speak  of  his  cax-eer,  he  counted  up  something  like  sixty  battles,  great 
and  small,  which  he  had  beeu  in,  and  in  every  one  he  had  borne  a  prominent 
part.  Talk  with  the  associates  of  the  young  leader  in  those  hard-fought  battles, 
and  they  will  tell  you  a  hundred  instances  of  his  dauntless  courage.  At  Manassas, 
he  took  position  in  a  place  so  dangerous,  that  an  officer,  who  had  followed  him 
up  to  that  moment,  rode  away  with  the  declaration,  that  "  if  Pelham  was  fool 
enough  to  stay  there,  he  was  not."  But  General  Jackson  thanked  him,  as  ho 
thanked  him  at  Cold  Harbour,  when  the  brave  young  soldier  came  back  covered 
with  dust  from  fighting  his  Napoleon — the  light  of  victory  in  his  eyes.  At 
Markham,  while  he  was  fighting  the  enemy  in  front,  they  made  a  circuit  and 
charged  him  in  the  rear;  but  he  turned  his  guns  about,  and  fought  them,  as 
before,  with  his  "French  Detachment,"  singing  the  loud,  triumphant  Marseil- 
laise, as  that  same  Napoleon  gun  broke  their  ranks  and  drove  them  back.  All 
that  whole  great  movement  was  a  marvel  of  hard  fightiDg,  however,  and  Pelham 
was  the  hero  of  the  stout,  close  struggle,  as  he  was  of  the  hot  contest  on  the 
right  at  Fredericksburg.  Any  other  chief  of  artillery  might  have  sent  his 
men  in,  leaving  the  direction  of  the  guns  to  such  officers  as  the  brave  Captain 
Henry;  but  this  did  not  suit  the  young  chieftain.  He  must  go  himself  with 
the  one  gun  sent  forward,  and  beside  that  piece  he  remaiued  until  it  was 
ordered  back — directing  his  men  to  lie  down,  but  sitting  his  own  horse,  and 
intent  solely  upon  the  movements  and  designs  of  the  enemy,  wholly  careless  of 
the  "fire  of  hell"  hurled  against  him.  It  was  glorious,  indeed,  as  General 
Lee  declared,  to  see  such  heroism  in  the  boyish  artillerist ;  and  well  might 
General  Jackson  speak  of  him  in  terms  of  "  exaggerated  compliment,"  and  ask 
General  Stuart  "if  he  had  another  Pelham,  to  give  him  to  him'!'" 

Modest,  brave,  loving  and  beloved — the  famous  soldjer,  the  charming  com- 
panion, passed  away  from  the  friends  who  cherished  him,  leaving  a  void  which 
no  other  being  can  fill.  Alabama  lent  him  to  Virginia  for  a  time;  but,  alas  I 
the  pale  face  smiles  no  more  as  he  returns  to  her.  Many  mourn  his  early  death 
here  where  his  glory  was  won,  as  in  the  southern  land  from  whence  he  came. 
To  these — the  wide  circle  who  loved  him  for  his  great  qualities,  and  his  kind, 
good  heart — his  loss  is  irreparable,  as  it  is  to  the  whole  land.  The  "  breed  of 
noble  minds"  like  his  is  not  numerous,  and,  when  such  forms  disappear,  the 
gap  is  hard  to  fill — the  struggle  for  our  liberties  is  more  arduous  than  before. 
But  the  memory  of  this  great  young  soldier  still  remains  with  us — his  name  is 
immortal  in  history  as  in  many  heart*  which  throbbed  at  his  death. 


GENERAL  JOSEPH  EGGLESTON  JOHNSTON 


This  distinguished  officer  is  a  native  of  Prince  Edward  county,  Virginia, 
where  he  was  born  about  the  year  i§08.  Tils  father  was  the  late  Judge  Peter 
Johnston,  of  the  General  Court  of  Virginia,  distinguished  alike  at  the  bar  and 
on  the  bench,  for  sound  practical  sense  and  solid  legal  acquirements.  He  had 
been  a  soldier  in  his  youth — had  been  one  of  Greene's  officers  in  his  celebrated 
campaign  of  1781,  in  North  and  South  Carolina — bad  borne  himself  honorably 
and  bravely  at  Guilford,  Camden,  Eutaw,  and  Ninety-Six — and  retained,  to  the 
day  of  his  death,  a  predilection  for  his  early  profession,  which  not  all  his 
subsequent  success  in  a  profession  of  a  very  different  character,  could  entirely 
obliterate.  It  is  worthy  of  record,  that  he  was  the  First  Lieutenant  of  the 
company  in  which  the  celebrated  Peter  Francisco  served  as  a  private,  and  that 
the  latter,  scarcely  less  remarkable  for  his  gigantic  strength  and  undaunted 


63  THE  VTAR  AND  ITS  HEROES. 

cournge,  than  for  his  keen  sagacity  and  powerful,  though  uncultivated  mind, 
retained  to  the  close  of  his  life  a  warm  affection  for  his  old  commander;  a 
suiheicut  proof,  since  he  had  so  often  seen  him  tried,  that  he  had  never  found 
him  wanting.  After  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  Judge  Johnston  married  Miss 
Polly  Wood  of  Goochland  county,  a  niece  of  Patrick  Henry,  and  oue  of  the 
most  accomplished  young  ladies  of  her  day.  If  he  had  chosen  his  wife 
avowedly  on  the  principle  that  Mrs.  Primrose  chose  her  gown,  "  for  qualities 
that  would  wear,"  he  could  scarcely  have  made  a  happier  selection.  Mrs.  John- 
ston proved  to  be  as  remarkable  in  her  married  life  for  the  ability  with  which 
she  discharged  the  duties  of  her  station,  as  she  had  been  for  her  personal 
attractions  in  her  youth.  They  raised  a  large  family,  sons  and  daughters,  all  of 
whom  proved  to  be  persons  of  superior  understanding.  Both  parents  paid  the 
strictest  attention  to  their  education,  moral  and  physical,  as  well  as  mental ;  a 
duty  but  too  often  neglected  by  those  to  whom  the  direction  of  youth  is  entrusted. 
Among  other  things,  they  were  taught  to  obtain  complete  mastery  over  their 
own  minds;  a  lesson,  above  all  others,  essential  to  human  happiness;  for  the 
mind  in  the  moral,  like  fire  in  the  material  world,  is  the  best  and  most  useful  of 
.servants,  but  the  most  dangerous  and  tyrannical  of  masters. 

Of  several  brothers,  the  subject  of  our  sketch  was  the  youngest.  When  yet 
a  small  boy,  his  father  having  been  appoiuted  a  judge  in  Abingdon  district, 
removed  his  family  to  that  town,  and  there  Joseph  received  the  rudiments  of 
his  education.  At  school  he  was  noted  as  a  boy  of  quick  parts  and  a  bold  and 
enterprising  disposition.  During  this  period  of  his  life,  he  had  an  opportunity 
to  show  one  of  those  characteristics  for  which  he  has  since  been  distinguished 
nbove  most  of  his  cotemporaries.  By  some  accident  he  broke  an  arm.  Most 
boys  of  his  age  would  have  indulged  in  the  loudest  lamentation.  Joseph,  on 
the  contrary,  bore  his  misfortune  with  the  most  heroic  fortitude.  He  shed 
not  a  tear  and  uttered  not  a  groan.  He  submitted  to  the  setting  of  the  limb 
with  the  calm  and  stoical' composure  of  an  Indian,  making  not  a  wry  face,  and 
distorting  not  a  muscle  of  his  countenance.  With  equal  patience  he  bore  the 
xjontmeiiient  necessary  to  his  situation,  and  iu  every  incident  connected  with 
;the  ulster  showed  a  manly  spirit  far  above  his  years.  We  mention  this  cir- 
cumstance because,  though  trivial,  it  is  characteristic,  and  affords  a  key  to  his 
subsequent  conduct  iu  some  of  the  most  trying  situations  that  a  man  can  be 
cailed  on  to  occupy. 

It  is  possible  that  his  own  inclination  led  him  to  choose  arms  as  a  profession. 
Naturally  of  such  a  disposition  as  we  have  recorded,  the  son,  moreover,  of  an 
old  soldier  whose  stirring  narratives  of  his  experience  in  the  army  of  Greene 
he  must  often  have  heard,  it  was  natural  that  he  should  feel  his  soul  stirred 
•within  him  as  by  the  sound  of  a  trumpet.  It  is  reasonable  to  suppose,  also, 
that  his  father,  always  retaining  a  predilection  for  a  military  life,  and  early  dis- 
covering the  bent  of  his  son's  genius,  should  encourage  his  youthful  inclina- 
tions. Be  that  as  it  may,  we  find  him,  in  1825,  a  cadet  at  the  military  academy 
of  West  Point,  at  that  time  in  the  very  zenith  of  its  reputation.     His  applica- 


THE  WAR  AND  ITS  HEROES.  69" 

tion  to  his  studies,  from  the  moment  he  entered  the  walls  of  this  institution, 
was  earnest  and  devoted.  How  successful  it  was,  we  think  his  after  history 
very  clearly  shows.  He  graduated  in  1829,  in  the  same  class  with  General 
Robert  E.  Lee,  a  circumstance  well  worthy  of  note,  as  calculated  to  render  that 
year  and  that  class  forever  memorable  in  the  anuals  of  West  Point.  Cadet 
Johnston  was  immediately  assigned  to  the  4th  artillery,  with  the  rank  of  2d 
Lieutenant,  by  brevet.  There  was  at  that  time  no  war  and  no  opportunity  for 
distinction.  Accordingly,  we  find  him,  seven  years  after,  while  still  a  Lici- 
tenant,  appointed  Assistant  Commissary  of  Subsistence,  a  post  which  he 
resigned  the  year  after,  upon  being  appointed  1st  Lieutenant  of  Topographical 
Engineers.  This  rank  he  held  when  the  Florida  war  broke  out  in  1 83S.  His 
conduct  throughout  that  war  was  such  as  to  merit  the  highest  praise,  and  to 
draw  the  eyes  of  the  whole  country  upon  him.  Upon  one  occasion,  having 
been  sent,  under  the  escort  of  a  party  of  infantry,  to  make  a  survey  or  recon- 
noisance  of  a  region  which  lay  around  a  lake,  and  having  crossed  the  lake  in 
boats,  the  party  was  waylaid  by  an  ambuscade  of  Indians,  and  all  its  officers 
killed  or  disabled  at  the  first  fire.  The  men  were  thrown  into  complete  confu- 
sion, and  were  in  imminent  danger  of  destruction,  when  Lieutenant  Johnston 
took  the  commaud,  and,  by  his  coolness  and  determination,  succeeded  in  res- 
cuing them.  He  laid  hold  of  a  small  tree  with  one  hand,  and  standing  boldly 
out  in  face  of  the  whole  Cre  of  the  savages,  called  on  the  men  to  rally  and 
form  upon  him.  His  cooluess  enabled  him  to  subdue  what  was  fust  becoming 
a  panic.  The  men  returned  to  their  duty  and  resumed  the  action.  A  perfect 
volcano  of  balls  swept  around  Johnston.  Most  of  them  were  aimed  directly 
at  him,  to  the  relief  of  the  soldiers.  Strange  to  .say,  while  numbers  of  them 
struck  the  tree  to  which  he  held  last,  for  some  time  he  was  not  touched.  At 
last  oue  struck  him  immediately  above  the  forehead,  about  the  roots  of  the 
hair,  and  ranged  backward  to  the  occiput,  grazing  the  skull  the  whole  distance, 
but  not  fracturing  it  or  injuring  the  brain.  Lieutenant  J.  of  course  fell,  but 
the  troops  had  caught  so  much  of  his  spirit  that  they  repulsed  the  enemy  and 
carried  off  the  wounded  in  safety.  For  his  gallant  conduct  on  this  occasion; 
and  throughout  the  Florida  war,  Lieutenant  J.  was  brevetted  Captain — a  very 
meagre  recompense  for  so  many  and  such  arduous  se  rvioes,  it  seems  to  us.  But 
promotion  was  slow  in  the  old  army.  Iu  September,  1840,  he  became  a  full 
Captain  by  seniority. 

The  Mexican  war  had  now  begun.  On  the  16th  February,  184  7,  Captain 
Johnston  was  made  Lieutenant-Colonel  of  Voltigeurs.  by  brevet,  and  in  that- 
capacity,  sailed  with  the  expedition  under  General  Scott.  After  the  capture  of 
Vera  Cruz,  when  the  army  advanced,  Colonel  Johnston  made  a  most  daring 
reconnoisance  of  the  enemy's  line,  strongly  posted  on  the  heights  of  Cerro 
Gordo.  In  this  reconnoisance  he  was  severely  wouuded,  having  approached  so 
near  the  enemy's  works  that  he  was  struck  by  three  musket-balls.  It  was 
supposed,  for  some  time,  that  his  wounds  were  mortal ;  but,  happily  for  his 
country,   a   powerful    constitution    and    skillful    treatment    carried    him    safely 


7Q  THE  WAR  AND  ITS  HEROES. 

through  the  trial.  His  wounds  were  received  on  the  12th  of  April,  exactly  six 
days  before  the  battle  of  Cerro  Gordo,  in  which,  of  course,  he  was  unable  to 
bear  a  part.  However,  he  recovered  sufficiently  to  resume  his  command  in  the 
concluding  battles  of  the  war.  lie  distinguished  himself  at  Molino  del  Rey, 
and  was  again  severely  wounded  at  Chapultepec.  These  numerous  wounds  led 
General  Scott,  afterwards,  to  say  of  him:  "Johnston  is  a  great  soldier,  but  he 
has  an  unfortunate  knack  of  getting  himself  shot  in  nearly  every  engagement." 
This  was  intended,  probably,  as  a  sneer;  but  there  could  not  be  a  more  honorable 
testimonial  to  the  gallantry  of  a  soldier.  He  was  several  times  brevetted  for 
gallant  and  meritorious  conduct  in  this  war,  and  at  its  conclusion,  was  retained 
as  Captain  of  Topographical  Engineers.  At  what  time  he  was  promoted,  we 
are  not  aware;  but  he  became  a  Colonel  in  the  old  army,  and  when  the  disrup- 
tion of  the  Union  took  place,  was  Quartermaster-Geueral.  He  immediately 
resigned  and  offered  his  services  to  his  native  State.  He  was  appointed  to  a 
high  command  by  Governor  Letcher,  but  thinking  he  could  be  of  more  use  in 
the  Confederate  service,  he  resigned  and  offered  himself  to  President  Davis, 
then  at  Montgomery.  He  was  immediately  appointed  Major-General,  and 
ordered  to  take  command  of  the  forces  at  Harper's  Ferry. 

On  the  23d  of  May,  1861,  General  Johnston  assumed  the  command  of  the 
forces  at  Harper's  Ferry,  consisting  of  nine  regiments  of  infantry,  two  battalions 
of  artillery,  and  Colonel  Stuart's  cavalry.  This  force,  numbering,  in  all,  less  than 
10,000  men,  was  called  the  Army  of  the  Shenandoah,  as  that  which  was  placed 
lower  down,  nearly  opposite  Washington,  uuder  the  command  of  General  Beau- 
regard, was  called  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  General  Johnston  had  a  hard 
task  before  him.  With  his  small  force,  he  was  expected  to  guard  Harper's 
Ferry,  to  repulse  the  Yankee  General  Patterson,  who  was  said  to  be  approaching 
on  the  Maryland  side  with  20,000  men,  and  to  prevent  him  from  forming  a 
junction  with  McClellan,  who  was  advancing  in  the  direction  of  Winchester 
from  the  western  part  of  Virginia.  Johnston  saw,  at  a  glance,  that  the  position 
of  Harper's  Ferry  was  of  no  importance  whatever,  since  an  enemy  coming  down 
the  Valley  of  Pennsylvania  might  easily  avoid  it,  and  unite  in  his  rear  at  Win- 
chester, with  an  enemy  coming  down  the  Valley  of  Virginia.  That  such  a  pro- 
ject was  on  foot,  he  believed  to  be  certain,  when  he  learned,  on  the  13th  of 
June,  that  a  force  of  2.000  men,  believed  to  be  the  advanced  guard  of  McClel- 
lan's  forces,  had  arrived  in  Itomney.  He  immediately  determined  to  abandon 
Harper's  Ferry,  having  first  burnt  and  blown  up  the  railroad  bridge  and  set 
fire  to  such  of  the  buildings  as  were  likely  to  prove  useful  to  the  enemy.  At 
the  same  time  he  sent  forward  a  detachment  to  Winchester  to  hold  in  check  any 
force  that  might  come  from  the  direction  of  Itomney.  On' the  14th,  while  on 
the  march,  he  learned  that  Patterson  had  crossed  at  Williamsport,  that  he  had 
already  possession  of  Martinsburg,  and  that  there  was  nothing  to  fear  from 
Romney,  from  which  the  enemy  had  retreated.  His  course  was  instantly  taken. 
He  occupied  Puuker's  Hill  on  the  Martinsburg  turnpike  by  a  flank  march, 
interposed  his  army  between  the  enemy  and  Winchester,  took  up  a  strong  posi- 


THE  WAR  AND  ITS  HEROES.  71 

tion,  and  so  intimidated  Patterson  that  he  immediately  fell  back  across  the  river 
Johnston  then  quietly  and  leisurely  pursued  his  march  to  Winchester.  This 
position  was  of  great  strategical  importance,  and  its  occupation  evinced  a  high 
degree  of  skill  on  the  part  of  the  Confederate  General.  He  was  now  between 
the  forces  of  McClellan  and  Patterson,  and  could  operate  at  his  pleasure  against 
either  before  they  could  be  joined  by  the  others.  At  the  same  time  he  was  in 
a  situation  to  unite  with  Beauregard,  should  he  be  attacked,  through  Ashby's 
gap  and  the  railroad.  Having  ascertained  that  Patterson  designed  to  cross  the 
Potomac  again,  he  sent  Colonel  Jackson  in  advance  to  oppose  him,  there  being 
no  other  troops  between  Winchester  and  Martinsburg  but  Colonel  Stuart's  cav- 
alry, who  acted  as  a  corps  of  observation.  Patterson  crossed  fur  the  second 
time  on  the  2d  of  July,  Jackson  fell  back  before  him,  and  drew  up  his  small 
force  at  Falling  Waters.  The  enemy  came  on.  A  fierce  conflict  ensued,  in 
which  Jackson  inflicted  upon  him  a  Joss  almost  equal  in  number  to  the  force  he 
had  with  him,  and  himself  sustained  scarcely  any.  When  about  to  be  out- 
flanked, Jackson  retired,  bringing  off  forty-five  prisoners,  whom  he  had  cap- 
tured. Johnston  advanced,  with  his  whole  force,  to  support  Jackson,  but 
Patterson  apparently  had  had  enough  of  it ;  for  he  made  no  attempt  to  renew 
the  engagement.  Johnston  then  took  up  a  position  near  Martinsburg,  with  the 
hope  of  drawing  Patterson  into  an  engagement,  but  he  could  not  succeed.  After 
remaining  four  days  in  this  position,  Johnston  returned  to  Winchester.  On  the 
15th,  Patterson  advanced  as  far  as  Bunker  Hill,  about  ten  miles  from  Winches- 
ter, and,  on  the  17th,  made  a  movement  on  his  left,  in  the  direction  of  Smith- 
field.     Johnston  instantly  took  the  hint. 

He  had  been  convinced,  from  the  refusal  of  Patterson  to  accept  his  challenge 
at  Martinsburg,  that  he  did  not  intend  to  fight  him,  and  that  his  only  object  was 
to  detain  him  in  the  Valley  until  the  Grand  Army  from  Washington  should 
have  overwhelmed  Beauregard.  This  movement  confirmed  his  original  impres- 
sion. He  had  already  telegraphed  to  llichmond,  requesting  orders  to  join 
Beauregard,  and  had  received  them  accordingly  Ordering  the  cavalry  under 
Colonel  Stuart  to  make  a  movement  in  advance,  as  if  for  the  purpose  of  bring- 
ing on  a  general  engagement,  he  completely  deceived  Patterson.  Under  cover 
of  Stuart's  movement,  Johnston  passed  his  whole  army  through  Ashby's  Gap  to 
Piedmont  Station,  on  the  Manassas  Gap  railroad,  from  whence  the  infantry  were 
to  be  transported  by  the  cars  to  Manassas,  the  artillery  and  cavalry  following  as 
rapidly  as  they  could.  Jackson's  brigade  and  two  Georgia  regiments  reached 
Manassas  on  the  morning  of  Saturday,  20th,  and  Johnston,  with  the  4th  and 
2d  Alabama,  and  a  part  of  the  11th  Mississippi,  soon  after.  The  rest  of  his 
troops,  from  some  cause,  did  not  arrive  that  day,  although  the  president  of  the 
road  had  promised  that  they  should.  The  troops  thus  detained  amounted  to 
about  5,000  in  number. 

We  shall  not  here,  with  the  limited  space  at  our  command,  attempt  a  sketch 
of  the  battle  of  Manassas.  It  is  sufficient  to  say  that  General  Johnston,  upon 
assuming  the  command,  declined  to  alter  the  dispositions  of  Gen'l  Beauregard — 


72  THE  WAR  AND  ITS  HEROES. 

that  the  failure  of  the  troops  which  had  been  left  behind  on  the  proceeding 
day  to  arrive  in  time,  obliged  the  Confederate  Generals  to  alter  their  original 
plan,  which  was  offensive,  aud  await  the  attack  of  the  enemy — that  the  enemy, 
35,000  strong,  attempted  to  turn  the  left  wing  of  the  Confederates — that  a  long 
and  desperate  battle  ensued — that  an  order  sent  to  Geueral  Ewell,  posted  on  our 
right  centre,  to  charge  the  exposed  flank  of  the  enemy,  miscarried — that  iu  the 
very  crisis  of  the  battle,  Kirby  Smith  arrived  with  1,700  men — that  he  was 
wounded  and  succeeded  by  Colonel  Elzey — that  the  attack  of  his  body  caused 
the  enemy  to  hesitate,  and  finally  to  give  ground — and  that  his  discomfiture  was 
completed  by  the  attack  made  on  his  flank  by  Colonel  Early,  at  the  head  of  his 
brigade.  The  battle  of  Manassas  had  been  fought,  aud  the  rout  was  the  most 
thorough  known  to  history  since  the  day  of  Waterloo 

The  Army  of  the  Potomac  continued  for  seven  months  to  occupy  the  position 
near  Ccntreville  which  it  had  conquered  from  the  enemy  by  this  splendid  vic- 
tory. Except  the  brilliant  episode  of  Leesburg,  and  the  reverse  at  Drainesville, 
there  were  few  incidents  to  diversify  the  dull  monotony  of  a  life  in  camp.  The 
winter  was  uncommonly  warm  and  wet,  aud  sickness  and  death  thinned  the 
ranks  of  our  army.  But  the  men  became  accustomed  to  a  soldier's  life,  and 
learned  how  to  bear  fatigue  as  well  as  to  face  danger,  without  shriuking.  In 
the  meantime,  the  Yankee  government  made  enormous  preparations,  both  naval 
and  military.  Their  Secretary  of  War  boasted  that  in  an  iucredibly  short  space 
of  time  he  had  put  660,000  troops  in  the  field.  The  fruits  of  his  energy  soon 
began  to  ripen.  Hatteras  was  taken,  Beaufort  fell,  Fort  Donnclson  was  captured, 
with  5,000  men,  and  New  Orleans  fell.  Nothing  in  all  history  can  be  compared 
to  the  exultations  of  the  Yankee  press.  They  believed  the  South  already  con- 
quered, and  they  spoke  the  language  of  conquerors.  Nothing  would  satisfy  them 
but  another  "  On  to  Richmond."  This  time  it  was  to  be  undertaken  by  220,000 
men,  under  McClellan.  Johnston  soon  became  apprised  of  the  designs  of  that 
officer,  and  prepared  to  foil  them  Early  in  March,  McClellan  moved  upon 
Manassas  with  his  whole  force,  to  find  the  camp  deserted,  and  everything  that 
could  be  of  value  to  his  army  safely  removed.  Jonnstou  had  evacuated  all  his 
positions,  and  retreated  to  Richmond  without  the  loss  of  a  man.  There  is  no 
comparison,  wc  believe,  between  this  retreat  and  any  other  upon  record.  Had 
Johnston  never  performed  any  other  military  exploit,  this  alone  would  entitle 
him  to  be  considered  one  of  the  greatest  captains  of  the  age.  His  whole  force 
scarcely  amounted  to  40,000  men,  and  with  that  little  army  he  had  confronted 
for  six  months,  and  eluded  without  loss,  a  host  of  more  than  200,000  men. 

But  we  will  not  undertake  to  record  the  events  of  Af>ril  aud  May,  1862,  the 
most  brilliant  of  Johnston's  whole  life.  He  hastened  with  his  veteran  army  to 
the  rescue  of  the  gallant  Magruder,  who  was  on  the  Peninsula  with  11,500 
men,  and  confronted  by  McClellan  with  100,000.  On  arriving,  Johnston  at 
once  assumed  command,  and  on  the  6th  of  May,  1862,  fought  the  battle  of 
Williamsburg,  repulsiDg  the  enemy  with  enormous  loss.  Falling  back  with  his 
victorious  army  upon  the  line  of  the  Chickahominy,  he  gave  McClellan  another 


THE  WAR  AND  ITS  HEROES.  73 

severe  lesson  iu  the  art  of  war  at  the  battle  of  Seven  Pines.  Unfortunately 
for  his  country,  he  was  severely  wounded  in  this  engagement,  and  had  to  be 
removed  from  the  field. 

After  recovering  from  his  wounds,  General  Johnston  was  assigned  to  duty  in 
Tennessee,  and  at  the  present  writing  (February,  1864,)  commands  what  is 
known  as  the  Army  of  Tennessee,  where  he  will  doubtless  render  services  even 
more  brilliant  than  any  he  has  yet  rendered  to  his  country. 

The  career  of  General  Johnston  has  been  such  as  the  most  illustrious  chieftain 
might  envy.  A  quick  genius,  a  solid  judgment,  invincible  firmness,  impertur- 
bable self-reliance,  a  will  as  resolute  as  that  of  "the  first  bald  Caesar,"  a  penetra- 
tion which  no  device  can  baffle,  a  perseverance  which  no  difficulty  can  subdue, 
a  courage  which  no  danger  can  shake,  quickness  of  conception,  promptness  of 
action,  endurance  almost  superhuman,  and  reticence  as  perfect  as  the  grave — 
all  these  we  take  to  be  characteristics  of  a  great  commander,  and — in  a  high 
degree — General  Johnston  possesses  them  all. 


BRIGADIER-GENERAL  JAMES  H.  LANE. 


James  H.  Lane  was  born  at  Matthews  Court-House,  Virginia,  in  1834.  He 
graduated  with  high  distinction  at  the  Lexington  Virginia  Military  Institute, 
and  afterwards  took  his  degree  in  the  scientific  course  at  the  University  of  Vir- 
ginia. So  highly  was  he  appreciated  at  his  Alma  Mater,  that  he  was  soon  after 
recalled  to  Lexington  as  Assistant  Professor  of  Mathematics  'and  Tactics ;  he 
subsequently  became  Professor  in  the  .same  departments  at  the  State  Seminary 
of  Florida,  and  at  the  outbreak  of  hostilities  was  filling  the  Chair  of  Natural 
Philosophy  and  Tactics  in  the  North  Carolina  Military  Institute  of  Charlotte. 

With  the  other  officers  of  this  institution,  he  immediately  offered  his  services 
to  the  State,  and  was  most  useful  and  energetic  as  drill-master  and  adjutant  at 


THE  WAR  AND  ITS  HEROES.  75 

the  Camp  of  Instruction  near  Raleigh.  He  was  elected  Major  of  the  1st  Xorth 
Carolina  Volunteers,  and  with  that  gallant  regiment  won  his  first  laurels  on  the 
memorable  field  of  Bethel,  June  10th,  1861. 

Shortly  after  the  battle  of  Bethel  he  was  elected  Lieutenant-Colonel  of  the 
28th  [North  Carolina  regiment,  and  subsequently,  for  gallant  and  meritorious 
conduct,  he  was  made  a  Brigadier-General,  and  placed  in  command  of  the  4th 
brigade  of  the  Light  Division.  He  received  his  appointment  as  Brigadier  on 
the  1st  of  November,  1862,  as  the  successor  of  the  lamented  General  L.  O'B. 
Branch,  of  North  Carolina. 

At  the  head  of  a  brigade  of  noble  troops,  whose  banners  bear  upon  their  folds 
the  names  of  nearly  twenty  battle-fields,  he  is  now  manfully  battling  for  the 
independence  of  the  South. 


LIEUTENANT-GENERAL  JOHN  C.  PEMBERTON. 


John  0.  Peinbcrton  was  born  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  State  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. He  entered  West  Point  as  a  Cadet  from  that  State  in  1833,  and  <>raduated 
on  the  30th  of  June,  1837.  On  the  1st  of  July,  1837,  he  was  appointed  Second 
Lieutenant  of  the  4th  Artillery,  TI.  S.  A.,  and  was  promoted  First  Lieutenant 
on  the  9th  of  March,  1842.  From  1846  to  1848  he  acted  as  Aide-de-Camp  to 
Brevet  Major-General  Worth,  in  Mexico.  He  was  twice  breveted  for  "gallant 
and  meritorious  conduct,"  during  the  war  with  Mexico— first  at  Monterey,  next 
at  Molino  del  Hey. 

Immediately  upon  the  commencement  of  hostilities  between  the  North  and 
South,  General  Pemberton  resigned  his  commission  in  the  United  States  army 
and  espoused  the  cause  of  the  South.  Hastening  to  Montgomery,  he  was  at 
once  tendered  a  position  in  the  Southern  army  by  President  Davis. 


THE  WAR  AND  ITS   HEROES.  77 

General  Pemberton  first  attracted  public  attention  by  bis  gallant  defence  of 
tbe  city  of  Yicksburg,  Mississippi,  tbe  particulars  of  wbich  will  form  one  of  the 
most  interesting  chapters  in  the  history  of  thia  second  war  fdr  independence. 

On  the  18th  of  May,  1863,  Yicksburg,  in  consequence  of  a  disaster  at  Big 
Black  Bridge,  was  closely  iuvested  by  the  Yankee  forces  under  Grant,  the  right 
of  his  army  resting  on  the  river  above  the  city.  As  a  last  resort,  General  Pem- 
berton, with  a  weakened  but  glorious  little  army,  retired  behind  his  works.  To 
appease  the  clamor  that  had  been  raised  against  him,  and  to  repel  the  charge 
that  he  designed  selling  Yicksburg,  he  exhorted  his  soldiers  to  follow  him,  and 
see  at  what  price  he  would  sell  it,  for  it  would  not  be  less  than  his  own  life  and 
that  of  every  man  in  his  command.  The  siege  was  continued  until  the  4th  of 
July,  when,  after  a  heroic  defence,  the  place  was  unconditionally  surrendered. 
General  Pemberton,  in  the  letter  which  proffered  surrender,  stated  his  reasons 
for  doing  so,  as  follows  : 

"I  make  this  proposition  to  save  the  further  effusion  of  blood  which  must 
otherwise  be  shed  to  a  frightful  extent,  feeling  myself  fully  able  to  maintain  my 
position  for  an  indefinite  period." 

The  terms  of  the  capitulation  were  thus  announced  : 

"  The  entire  force  of  the  Confederate  troops,  were  to  surrender,  as  prisoners 
of  war,  to  the  United  States  army,  under  General  Grant ;  the  whole  army, 
including  the  generals,  were  to  be  immediately  paroled  and  sent  into  our  lines  ; 
all  officers  were  to  retain  their  arms ;  all  mounted  officers  to  have  the  privilege 
of  riding  out;  private  property  to  be  respected,  and  all  parties,  whether  citizens 
or  not,  connected  in  any  manner  with  the  army,  were  to  be  allowed  the  privilege 
of  leaving  the  Federal  lines  on  parole.  All  ammunition,  stores,  field  artillery 
and  siege  guns  were  to  be  surrendered  to  the  United  States  army,  as  well  as  al 
small  arms  iu  our  possession." 


COMMODORE  GEORGE  N.  HOLLINS. 


The  father  of  Commodore  Hollins  was  born  in  Manchester,  England,  and,  on 
coming  to  the  United  States,  settled  in  Baltimore,  embarked  in  merchandising, 
and  became  engaged  in  the  East  India  trade,  doing  a  large  and  extensive  busi- 
ness for  many  years.  lie  married  a  3Iiss  Jane  Smith,  of  Baltimore,  a  sister  of 
General  Samuel  Smith,  who  was  Secretary  of  War,  while  his  brother  Bobert 
was  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  under  Jefferson. 

The  subject  of  our  sketch  was  born  in  the  city  of  Baltimore  in  the  year 
1700,  on  the  20th  day  of  September,  where  he  resided  until  his  fourteenth 
year,  when,  at  his  urgent  solicitation,  his  father  consented  to  his  application  for 
a  position  in  the  navy  of  his  country.  He  received  the  appointment  as  a  mid- 
shipman from  Secretary  Jones,  the  then  Secretary  of  the  Navy  under  President 


THE  WAR  AND  ITS  HEROES.  79 

Madison,  and  was  ordered  to  the  sloop-of-war  Erie,  of  twenty  guns,  commanded 
by  Commander  Ridgeley,  and  lyirjg  at  Baltimore,  waiting  an  opportunity  of 
passing  the  English  blockading  squadron  of  that  port.  The  English  moving 
from  Washington  on  Baltimore,  the  sailors  of  the  latter  port  were  placed  under 
Commander  Barney,  and  were  ordered  forward  to  check  their  advance,  and  did 
meet  them  in  the  fight  at  Bladensburg.  Young  Hollins  served  with  Commander 
Barney  in  this  fight,  and  fell  back  with  the  army  to  Baltimore,  where  he  was 
placed  in  command  of  the  Erik  Commander  Ridgely  being  ordered  with  all 
available  spare  men  to  the  lakes,  and  those  remaining  to  the  shore  batteries, 
Hollins  formed  a  crew  of  volunteer  seamen  to  man  the  Erie  while  defending 
the  harbor.  He  was  at  this  time  such  a  mere  lad  that  one  of  his  mother's  lady 
friends,  seeing  him  march  his  volunteers  down  the  street,  preparatory  to  going 
aboard,  ordered  him  home,  telling  him,  if  he  did  not  desist,  she  would  be 
compelled  to  inform  his  parents  of  his  conduct.  This  was  a  good  joke  for  the 
sailors,  but  no  fun  to  the  brave  boy. 

After  the  repulse  of  the  English  at  Baltimore,  he  was  ordered  to  the  Presi- 
dent, carrying  forty-four  guns,  and  commanded  by  the  gallant  Decatur.  The 
ship  President,  left  Xew  York,  at  nine  o'clock  at  night,  on  the  15th  of  January, 
1813.  The  weather  was  severe,  the  ni<<ht  dark,  and  the  pilot,  from  the  rough- 
ness of  the  sea  and  strong  westerly  wind,  being  unable  to  govern  the  motion  of 
the  vessel,  she  was  carried  ashore,  which  affected  her  sailing  qualities  so  seriously 
that  it  was  thought  advisable  to  return  to  port.  The  wind  still  continuing 
unfavorable,  aud  it  being  unsafe  to  remain  where  she  was,  her  bold  commander 
determined  to  keep  on  his  voyage.  He  accordingly  put  out  at  daylight,  fell  in 
with  the  razeed  sixty  gun  frigate  Majestie,  the  forty-four  gun  frigate  Endemion, 
the  forty-four  gun  frigate  Tenados,  and  the  forty-four  gun  frigate  Pomona. 
These  vessels  gave  chase,  firing  all  day  at  the  President.  About  suudown,  the 
Endemion,  getting  much  ahead  of  its  consorts,  Decatur  turned  and  gave  fight. 
The  Endemion  was  so  much  crippled  that  she  was  compelled  to  haul  off,  but 
not  before  the  Tenados  and  Pomena  had  arrived  to  her  assistance.  The 
President,  having  more  than  two-thirds  of  her  officers  and  men  killed,  and  after 
exchanging  a  few  broadsides  with  these  vessels,  surrendered  to  the  squadron. 
Hollins  was  carried  to  Bermuda  with  his  commander,  where  he  remained  until 
the  close  of  the  war.  On  his  return  home,  he  was  ordered  to  the  ship  Guerriere, 
carrying  forty-four  guns,  and  the  flag-ship  of  Commander  Decatur's  squadron, 
which  was  ordered  to  Algeria  to  suppress  the  Algcrine  Mediterranean  pirates. 
Decatur  captured  the  admiral  and  his  frigate  of  forty-four  guns,  immediately 
on  his  arrival  in  the  Mediterranean,  and  then,  sailing  for  Algiers,  commanded 
a  treaty,  by  which  American  commerce  was  freed  from  the  black  mail  which  all 
nations  were  paying  to  the  Algerines. 

From  this  time  until  1852,  our  country  remaining  at  peace,  Hollins  spent  in 
various  positions  of  naval  trust.  In  this  year  the  people  of  Gray  Town  had 
insulted  grossly  the  American  consul  and  had  destroyed  much  property  of  our 
citizens.     Commander  Hollins  was  ordered  to  go  immediately  to  that  port  in  the 


80  THE  WAR  AND  ITS  HEROES. 

Vynnr,  of  twenty  guns,  and  demand  a  most  explicit  apology  and  reparation  for 
damages.  He  went,  and  finding  the  people  unwilling  to  make  even  the  slightest 
amends,  he  leveled  the  town,  though  protested  against  by  the  English  command- 
ing officer  then  in  port.  On  his  return  to  the  United  States,  his  conduct  was 
approved  of  by  the  Administration,  of  which  Jefferson  Davis  was  the  Secretary 
Of  War. 

A  short  time  before  the  election  of  Lincoln,  Commander  Ilollins  was  on  a  cruise 
in  the  steamship  Susquehanna,  and  did  not  arrive  in  Boston  until  June,  1861. 
Unfortunately  f°r  tne  Confederacy,  out  of  his  thirty-fwo  officers,  twenty  sided 
with  the  North ;  and  more  unfortunately  yet,  the  ship's  draught  was  too  great 
for  any  port  but  Norfolk,  which  entrance  was  guarded  by  Fortress  Monroe. 
Commander  Ilollins  was  complimented  by  twelve  of  his  officers  and  eighty  of 
his  men  making  immediate  application  for  their  discharge.  This  application 
went  in  with  his  own,  and  he  has  had  the  satisfaction  of  meeting  most  of  these 
men  in  the  South.  His  resignation  was  not  accepted,  but  he  was  dismissed 
without  pay,  as  a  punishment  for  his  devotion  to  his  section.  This  was  Yankee 
gratitude  to  a  man  who  had  spent  more  than  forty-six  years  in  the  service  of  his 
country.  Without  delay  he  hastened  to  Richmond,  and  suggested  the  possi- 
bility of  the  taking  of  the  Pawner,  which  vessel  was  then  giving  us  much 
annoyance  on  the  Potomac.  Receiving  the  consent  of  our  government,  he 
hurried  to  Maryland,  and,  with  men  and  arms,  took  passage  on  the  St.  Nicholas, 
Off  "Point  Look  Out,"  he  demanded  the  surrender  of  the  boat,  and,  hearing 
that  the  Pawnee  had  gone  to  Washington,  felt  that  the  best  thing  to  be  done 
was  to  carry  the  St.  Nicholas  up  the  Rappahannock.  On  his  way,  he  captured 
twice  the  number  of  his  own  crew  and  three  vessels  loaded  with  coal,  coffee  and 
ice — the  last  being  particularly  necessary  for  our  sick  and  wounded.  He  was 
then  ordered  to  New  Orleans  to  get  up  a  naval  defence,  but,  before  he  could  do 
anything,  the  enemy  were  reported  to  be  at  the  upper  end  of  the  passes  of  the 
Mississippi.  After  the  fall  of  New  Orleans,  Commander  Hollins  was  ordered 
to  the  Naval  Roard,  convened  in  Richmond,  to  examine  young  men  for  the  ser- 
vice. A  year  since,  after  the  duties  of  the  board  were  over,  he  reported  for 
duty.  Officers  who  have  the  confidence  of  the  people,  and  are  at  all  time3 
"  eager  for  the  fray/'  should  not  be  permitted  to  remain  idle  long,  and  we  trust 
Commander  Hollins  will  soon  be  placed  at  the  "  post  of  honor,"  where  we  are 
sure  his  country's  flag  will  not  be  sullied,  so  long  as  he  has  a  sword  to  defend  it. 


LIEUTENANT-GENERAL  JOHN  B.  HOOD. 


Lieutenant-General  John  B.  Hcod  was  born  in  Owensville,  Bath  county, 
Kentucky,  June  29th,  1831,  and  was  brought  up  at  Mount  Sterling,  Mont- 
gomery county.  He  entered  upon  his  collegiate  course  at  West  Point  in  1849, 
and  graduated  in  1853.  He  was  then  assigned  to  duty  in  the  Fourth  Infantry 
in  California,  where  he  served  twenty-two  months.  When  the  two  new  regi- 
ments, raised  by  Jefferson  Davis,  then  Secretary  of  War,  were  called  out,  he 
was  transferred  July,  1855,  to  the  one  (Second  Cavalry)  in  which  General 
Albert  Sidney  Johnston,  who  fell  at  Shiloh,  was  in  command,  and  General  R. 
E.  Lee;  the  lieutenant- colonel.  This  regiment  furnished  many  valuable  officers 
6 


82  THE  WAR  AND  ITS  HEROES. 

to  the  South.    Generals  Earl  Van  Dora,  E.  K.  Smith,  Fields,  Evans  and  Hardee 
were  from  its  ranks. 

In  the  winter  of  1855-6,  General  Hood  entered  upon  the  frontier  service  of 
Western  Texas,  where,  in  July  following,  he  had  a  spirited  engagement,  and 
was  wounded  by  the  Indians  on  Devil's  river. 

A  short  time  before  the  beginning  of  the  present  war,  he  was  ordered  to 
report  for  duty  at  West  Point,  as  instructor  of  cavalry.  But  anticipating  the 
present  difficulties,  he  was  allowed,  at  his  own  request,  to  return  to  duty  in 
Texas — his  object  being,  in  view  of  :A\  the  prospects  of  impending  dissolution, 
to  be  in  that  portion  of  the  country  which  he  most  loved  and  so  greatly  admired. 
He  could  see  no  hope  of  reconciliation  or  adjustment,  but  every  indication  of  a 
iierce  and  bloody  war;  consequently,  he  had  determined  to  cast  his  destiny  with 
the  South.  On  the  16th  of  April,  1861,  he  resigned  his  commission  under  the 
United  States  Government,  and  tendered  his  services  to  the  Confederacy.  His 
name  was  entered  upon  the  roll  with  the  rank  of  first  lieutenant,  and  ordered 
to  report  to  General  Lee,  in  Virginia,  who  ordered  him  to  report  to  General 
Magruder,  on  the  Peninsula.  He  was  at  once  placed  in  command  of  all  the 
cavalry  of  the  Peninsula,  with  the  rank  of  captain  of  regular  cavalry.  Having 
several  successful  engagements  with  the  enemy,  he  was  soon  promoted  to  the 
rank  of  major.  On  September  30th,  he  was  ordered  to  Kichmond,  and,  receiving 
the  rank  of  colonel  of  infantry,  was  placed  in  command  of  the  Fourth  Regiment 
Texas  Volunteers,  then  in  camp  near  the  city.  Very  few  of  the  men  had  ever 
s-jen  him,  and  doubts  were  entertained  whether  a  colonel  could  be  appointed 
that  would  give  satisfaction.  An  attempt  had  previously  been  made  to  organize 
the  regiment  under  Colonel  Allen,  of  Texas;  but,  in  consequence  of  a  protest  of 
some  of  the  captains,  the  appointment  was  withdrawn.  This  produced  a  feeling 
with  others,  and  it  was  thought  that  they  would  not  be  satisfied  with  any  one 
that  might  be  appointed.  Put  in  a  few  days  the  feeling  was  gone,  and  every 
one  seemed  to  be  perfectly  contented.  His  commanding  appearance,  manly  de- 
portment, quick  perception,  courteous  manners  and  decision  of  character,  readily 
impressed  the  officers  and  men  that  he  was  the  man  to  govern  them  in  the  camp 
and  command  them  on  the  field  ;  and  his  thorough  acquaintance  with  every 
department  of  the  service,  satisfied  every  one  with  his  competency  for  the  posi- 
tion. The  men  found  him  able  and  ready  to  give  all  the  necessary  instruction, 
not  only  in  drilling  them  for  the  field,  but  also  in  the  forms  and  technicalities 
of  the  clothing,  commissary,  ordinance  and  transportation  departments — for  the 
waut  of  which  information,  regiments  entering  the  service  frequently  go  hungry, 
and  commissaries  and  quartermasters  make  many  fruitless  trips. 

On  the  8th  and  9th  of  November,  1861,  the  4th  and  5th  Texas  regiments 
left  Kichmond  and  arrived  at  Dumfries  on  the  12th  instant,  and  were  there 
organized  into  a  brigade,  under  Colonel  Wigfall,  of  the  State  of  Texas,  who,  to 
this  end,  had  received  the  appointment  of  brigadier-general.  But,  as  he  was 
the  Senator  elect  from  the  State  of  Texas,  after  the  meeting  of  Congress,  he 
resigned;  and  on  the  3d  of  March,  1862,  Colonel  Hood  was  appointed  to  take 


THE  WAR  AND  ITS  HEROES.  83 

his  place.  Thus  we  see,  within  the  short  space  of  ten  months  and  seventeen 
days,  he  was  promoted  from  the  rank  of  lieutenant  to  that  of  brigadier. 

General  Hood  continued  with  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  until  Lieutenant- 
General  Long-street's  command  was  sent  to  re-inforce  the  Army  of  Tennessee, 
where,  with  his  brave  Texans,  he  followed  that  general  to  seek  new  laurels  in 
the  "  volunteer  State." 

At  the  battle  of  Chickamauga,  General  Hood  bore  a  prominent  part,  and, 
during  the  engagement,  was  so  severely  wounded  in  the  right  leg  as  to  render 
amputation  necessary.  For  signal  courage,  displayed  on  the  hard-fought  field 
of  Chickamauga,  General  Hood  was  made  lieutenant-general. 

General  Hood  is  about  six  feet  two  inches  high,  with  full,  broad  chest,  light 
hair  and  beard,  blue  eyes,  and  is  gifted  by  nature  with  a  voice  that  can  be  heard 
even  above  the  roar  of  cannon. 


MAJOR-GENERAL  T.  C.  HINDMAN. 


Major-General  Hindnian  is  a  native  of  the  State  of  Arkansas,  and  is  now  in 
the  prime  of  life.  He  entered  the  army  at  the  commencement  of  the  war,  and 
on  the  29th  of  Jane,  1861,  was  appointed  Colonel  of  the  2d  Arkansas  regi- 
ment. On  the  28th  of  September,  1861,  he  was  made  a  brigadier-general, 
which  position  he  held  until  the  Uth  of  April,  1862,  when  he  was  promoted 
to  the  rank  of  major-general.  General  Hindman,  we  believe,  has  never  been 
•connected  with  the  army  of  Northern  or  Western  Virginia,  his  fields  of  opera- 
tion and  usefulness  having  been  chiefly  confined  to  Georgia  and  Tennessee. 

On  the  29th  of  September  last,  General  Hindman  being  then  at  Newman, 
Oeorgia,  disabled  by  an  injury  received  in  the  battle  of  Chickamauga,  was  sus- 


THE  WAR  AND  ITS  HEROES.  85 

pended  from  command  by  order  of  General  Bragg.  The  charge  against  him 
Avas  disobedience  of  orders  on  September  11th,  in  McLemore'a  Cove.  General 
Hindman  at  once  requested  a  Court  of  Inquiry,  and  subsequently  made  a  report 
of  the  McLcmore's  expedition,  showing  that  the  charge  of  disobedience  was  not 
sustained  by  the  facts  in  the  case.  The  decision  of  President  Davis  in  the 
matter  is  stated  in  the  following  letter  of  General  Cooper : 

Adjutant  and  Inspector  General's  Oeficb, 
Richmond,  November  23,  18G3. 

General — Enclosed  pjease  find  a  copy  of  a  letter  from  Gen'l  Bragg,  requesting 
your  restitution  to  duty,  with  which  it  gives  the  President  much  pleasure  to 
comply. 

Your  letter  of  October  2d,  asking  for  a  court  of  inquiry,  was  referred  to  the 
President,  and  has  been  returned  with  the  following  endorsement,  viz : 

4<  The  investigation — which  I  had  opportunity  to  make  personally — into  the 
facts  of  the  case,  convinces  me  that,  bad  the  explanations  which  have  since  been 
furnished  preceded  the  order  of  General  Bragg  relieving  General  Rindman 
from  command,  that  order  would  not  probably  have  been  issued ;  and,  in  view 
of  the  letter  of  General  Bragg  of  November  ]  5,  it  is  not  deemed  necessary  to 
the  honor  of  General  Hindman,  or  to  the  interest  of  the  public  service,  that 
the  inquiry  asked  for  should  be  instituted." 

I  enclose  you  a  special  order  directing  you  to  report  for  duty  to  General 
Bragg. 

Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

S.  Cooper,  A.  and  L  G. 

To  Major- General  T.  C.  Hwclman,  <$se.f  &c. 


The  following  is  a  copy  of  the  letter  of  General  Bragg  referred  to 

Headquarters  Departmbnt  Tennessee, 
Missionary  Ridge,  November  15,  1863. 

Mr.  President — After  your  action  in  the  case  of  Lieutenant-General  Polk, 
which  to  me  has  been  entirely  satisfactory,  I  feel  it  a  duty,  as  it  is  a  pleasure, 
to  request  a  similar  action  on  your  part  toward  Major- General  Hindman.  This 
officer,  as  will  appear  from  the  official  reports,  was  conspicuously  distinguished 
at  Chickamauga  for  gallantry  and  good  conduct.  And  nothing  but  the  neces- 
sity of  uniform  discipline  prevented  my  overlooking  the  previous  affair  for 
which  he  was  suspended. 

From  what  I  have   heard  unofficijilly,  the   General  may  prefer  not  to  serve 
under  my  command,  but  it  is  only  just  for  me  to  add  that  he  possesses  my  fullest 
confidence  as  a  most  gallant  soldier  and  excellent  disciplinarian. 
I  am,  sir,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

Braxton  Bragg,  General  Comd'g. 

To  his  Excellency,  JrJ}'<'rson  Davis,  President,  Richmond,   Va. 

General  Hindman  is  now  with  the  army  of  Tennessee,  under  command  of 
that  gallant  Virginian,  General  Joseph  E.  Johnston. 


MAJOR-GENERAL  MARTIN  LUTHER  [SMITH. 


Major-General  Martin  Luther  Smith  is  a  native  of  Western  New  York,  and 
has  family  connections  residing  in  the  Northern,  Western  and  Southern  States, 
many  of  whom  are  in  Mississippi  and  Louisiana.  His  services  seem,  in  conse- 
quence, to  have  been  appropriately  rendered,  defending,  as  it  were,  through 
Vicksburg,  the  homes  of  those  who  are  bound  to  him  by  the  most  sacred  ties 
of  blood  and  friendship.  Entering  West  Point  as  a  cadet,  in  1838,  he  graduated 
in  1842,  when  he  was  commissioned  in  the  corps  of  Topographical  Engineers, 
and  seut  to  the  coast  of  Georgia  on  duty,  since  which  time  he  has  been  engaged, 
without  intermission,  south  of  Masou  and  Dixon's  line.  In  1846,  he  married 
Miss  Nesbit,  of  Georgia,  belonging  to  a  family  well  known  and  among  the  most 
prominent  and  influential  in  that  State.  At  the  opening  of  the  Mexican  war 
he  was  first  ordered  to  Texas,  but  subsequently  joined  General  Scott  in  the 
city  of  Mexico,  where  he  remained  on  active  duty  until  the  United  States 
forces  were  withdrawn.  He  was  brevetted  for  distinguished  services,  and  but 
few  young  officers  left  Mexico  with  higher  marks  of  distinction  and  respect. 


THE  WAR  AND  ITS  HEROES.  87 

From  1843  to  1854  General  Smith  was  actively  employed  on  various  govern- 
ment works  of  internal  improvement  and  defeuce  in  Georgia,  Florida  and  Texas; 
•and  was  subsequently  stationed  in  Washington  city,  where  he  remained  on  duty, 
with  the  exception  of  a  brief  interval,  until  the  organization  of  the  Southern 
Confederacy. 

He  resigned  his  commission  in  the  United  States  army  in  March,  180 1,  and 
tendered  his  services  without  delay  to  President  Davis,  from  whom  he  received 
the  appointment  of  Major  of  Engineers,  and  was  ordered  to  report  for  duty  at 
New  Orleans,  where  he  planned  and  completed  the  series  of  works  enveloping 
that  city,  designed  to  defend  it  against  an  attack  by  land.  Two  small  batteries, 
a  portion  of  those  works,  mounting  about  as  many  guns  a3  the  enemy  had  ves- 
sels, successfully  disputed,  for  a  time,  at  Chalmette,  under  his  command,  the 
advance  of  the  enemy's  fleet,  after  it  had  passed  forts  Jackson  and  St.  Philip, 
and  were  only  abandoned  after  the  last  round  of  ammunition  had  been  expended. 

In  April,  18(32,  he  was  commissioned  brigadier-general,  and  early  in  May 
was  ordered  with  his  brigade  to  Yicksburg  by  General  Lovell,  then  in  command 
of  that  department,  and  directed  to  defend  the  city.  Upon  his  arrival  at  Yicks- 
burg, the  0th  of  May,  18G2,  he  found  only  three  small  batteries  erected  and  a 
fourth  begun,  which  he  completed,  and  »vith  great  energy  proceeded  to  con- 
struct other  more  formidable  works  before  the  approach  of  the  enemy,  then 
known  to  have  passed  Baton  llouge  with  a  powerful  fleet.  The  armed  force 
theu  under  his  command  did  not  exceed  4,000  men,  the  most  of  them  undis- 
ciplined troops  that  had  just  been  mustered  into  service. 

Notwithstanding  the  prolonged  siege  o$  Vieksburg  and  the  length  of  time 
occupied  by  the  enemy  in  shelling  the  place,  the  28th  of  June  was  the  day  on 
which  the  decisive  battle  was  fought.  At  four  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  that 
day,  the  enemy  concentrated  his  entire  force,  numbering  about  three  hundred 
guns  of  heavy  calibre,  and  moving  boldly  up  in  front  of  the  city,  engaged  our 
batteries  at  very  short  range  Then  one  of  the  most  terrific  bombardments  on 
record  began  and  continued  with  unabated  fury  for  three  bonis,  'luring  which 
time  our  batteries  replied  with  a  tornado  of  iron  hail,  dealing  death  and  destruc- 
tion to  the  foe,  and  finally  succeeded  in  driving  the  whole  fleet  out  of  range  of 
our  fire;  thus  gainiHg  a  brilliant  victory  for  our  arms,  dispelling  the  charm 
which,  in  the  minds  of  many,  had  so  long  attached  to  the  Yankee  navy,  and 
disproving  the  boasted  invincibility  of  their  iron-clads. 

Foiled,  and  smarting  under  the  defeat  and  repulse  of  their  "Armada,"  ifc 
was  supposed  that  a  land  attack  would  next  be  attempted  by  the  enemy.  This 
claimed  at  once  the  attention  of  General  Smith,  and  prompt  and  decisive  efforts 
were  directed  to  meet  it;  but  the  timely  arrival  just  then  of  General  Breckin- 
ridge, with  reinforcements,  dispelled  all  further  apprehension,  and  from  that 
moment  the  siege  of  Vieksburg  was  considered  virtually  raised. 

2s  o  combined  attack  by  the  enemy  was  again  made  to  reduce  this  stronghold, 
and  at  the  expiration  of  thirty  days  both  the  upper  and  lower  fleets  withdrew. 

Relieved  of  the  presence  of  the  enemy  on  his  front,  and  remaining  still  in 


gg  THE  WAR  AND  ITS  HEROES. 

command,  General  Smith  begun  a  system  of  works  that  should  completely  en- 
velope the  city  and  render  it  impervious  to  an  attack  by  land  from  any  quarter. 
Snyder's  Bluff,  on  the  Yazoo,  he  regarded  as  an  important  position  to  occupy, 
and  at  once  proceeded  to  erect  fortifications  at  that  place  and  to  obstruct  the 
passage  of  the  Yazoo  river,  thereby  placing  an  effectual  barrier  between  the 
enemy  and  the  Valley  of  the  Yazoo.  Large  forests  were  felled,  forming  heavy 
abattis,  and  defensible  positions  selected  along  the  line  between  the  Bluff  and 
Vicksburg,  a  distance  of  about  ten  miles.  All  these  positions  were  selected 
after  the  most  careful  examination,  and  the  entire  works  planned  and  con- 
structed by  General  Smith  himself,  assisted  by  Captain,  now  Major,  S.  EL 
Locket,  Chief  Engineer  of  the  Department  of  Mississippi  and  East  Louisiana. 

The  unavailing  efforts  of  the  enemy  to  ascend  the  Yazoo  and  reduce  our 
works  at  Snyder's,  and  his  overwhelming  and  disgraceful  defeat  at  Chickasaw 
Bayou,  attest  the  strength  of  the  fortifications  and  the  judgment  displayed  in 
the  selection  of  positions.  The  battle  of  Chickasaw  Bayou  was  fought  under 
his  immediate  eye  and  direction,  and  the  result  stamps  him  a  gallant  officer  and 
a  man  worthy  of  the  honorable  position  he  holds. 

General  Smith  possesses  all  the  requisite  qualifications  of  a  good  soldier,  a 
warm  friend  and  an  elegant  gentleman.  His  impulses  are  all  noble  and  generous, 
and  though  possessed  of  a  peculiar  stiffness  of  manner,  which,  on  first  acquaint- 
ance, is  too  often  mistaken  for  hauteur  and  excessive  dignity,  yet  those  who 
know  him  well,  both  equals  and  subordinates,  esteem  and  love  him.  Personally, 
he  is  sans  peur  et  sans  reproche  ;  genuine  modesty  and  genuine  courtesy  alike 
adorning  his  character.  With  bim  the  success  of  our  glorious  cause  is  para- 
mount to  self  or  any  other  consideration.  Shortly  after  his  arrival  to  take  com- 
mand at  Vicksburg,  an  incident  occurred  demonstrative  of  his.  patriotism  and 
entire  devotion  to  the  interests  committed  to  his  charge.  In  reply  to  a  tele- 
graphic dispatch  from  President  Davis,  expressing  some  concern  about  Vicks- 
burg and  asking  what  more  was  particularly  needed  for  its  successful  defence, 
General  Smith  replied:  "*  *  *  *  More  infantry  is  desired  and  another 
general  officer,  whether  ranking  me  or  not  is  immaterial,  so  ire  succeed.^ 

General  Smith  was  commissioned  a  major  general  in  November.  1862 — a  just 
reward  for  his  distinguished  services. 


i@»ffiitiMfFi 

Medical  and  Surgical  Journal! 

PUBLISHED  UNDER  THE  AUSPICES  OF  THE  SURGEON-GENERAL. 

PRICE,   TE3SJ-   DOLLABS    .A.   "STE-A-K- ;I3ST   -AJDV.A.IXrCE. 


Having  free  access  to  the  reports  and  archives  of  the  Medical  Department,  and  acting  in  con- 
cert with  the  Association  of  Army  and  Navy  Surgeons,  this  journal  proposes  to  be  the  impartial 
representative  of  the  profession,  by  collecting  and  elaborating  the  valuable  results  of  its  labors. 

The  CONFEDERATE  STATES  MEDICAL  AND  SURGICAL  JOURNAL  is  published  monthly, 
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Medical  and  Surgical  Journal,"  care  of  Ayres  &  Wade,  Richmond. 

Subscription  and  other  letters  upon  business  should  be  addressed  to 

AYRES    Sc    "W-A.IDE, 

Publishers  and  Proprietors,  Richmond,   I 

|est  /amity  Journal  in  tt>e  Caafekraet)!. 


Is  now  pronounced  by  the  Ladies,  the  Soldiers  and  the  Press  of  the  South  to  be 
"NOT  A  LUXURY,  BUT  A  NECESSITY." 
The  cheerful  and  ^<  nial  character  of  the  paper  has  rendered  it  a  welcome  visitor  to  every 
household  in  the  Confederacy.     Indeed,  its  Success  has  been  unprecedented  in  the  history  of 
journalism  in  the  South. 

Among  the  regular  Contributors  to  the  columns  of  the  "News"  may  be  found  the  names  of 
JOHN    R.   THOMPSON, 

JOHN    MITCHELL, 

JOHN    ESTEN    COOKE, 

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•  HARRY   TBMROD, 

JAMES  BARRON  HOPE, 

PAUL    H.    HAYNE. 
And  many  others  well  known  in  the  literary  world. 
ii  nts  have  also  been  made  which  place  the  Editors  regularly  in  possession  of  ti.p 
French,  English  and  German  Periodical  Press,  the  best  productions  of  which  will  he 
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